The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * the party occupies the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

to centre-left on the political spectrum, sitting to the left of the Liberal Party. The party was founded in 1961 by the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

(CCF) and the

Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated. History Formation The CLC was ...

(CLC). The federal and provincial (or territorial) level NDPs are more integrated than other political parties in Canada, and have shared membership (except for the New Democratic Party of Quebec). The NDP has never won the largest share of seats at the federal level and thus has never formed government. From 2011 to 2015, it formed the

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

; apart from this, it has been the third or fourth-largest party in the House of Commons. However, the party has held considerable influence during periods of Liberal

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

s. Sub-national branches of the NDP have formed the government in six provinces ( Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia) and the territory of Yukon. The NDP supports a mixed economy, broader welfare, LGBT rights,

international peace World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

stewardship, and expanding Canada's universal healthcare system to include dental care, mental health care, eye and hearing care, infertility procedures, and prescription drugs. Since

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, the NDP has been led by

2021 Canadian federal election The 2021 Canadian federal election was held on September 20, 2021, to elect members of the House of Commons to the 44th Canadian Parliament. The writs of election were issued by Governor General Mary Simon on August 15, 2021, when Prime Minist ...

, it is the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons, with 25 seats.

History

20th century

Origins and early history

In 1956, after the birth of the

(CLC) by a merger of two previous labour congresses, negotiations began between the CLC and the

(CCF) to bring about an alliance between

organized labour The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

and the political left in Canada. In 1958 a joint CCF-CLC committee, the National Committee for the New Party (NCNP), was formed to create a new social democratic political party, with ten members from each group. The NCNP spent the next three years laying down the foundations of the New Party, the party's interim name pending a national convention. During this process, a large number of New Party Clubs were established to allow like-minded Canadians to join in its founding, and six representatives from New Party Clubs were added to the National Committee. In 1961, at the end of a five-day long founding convention which established its principles, policies and structures, the New Democratic Party was born, and Tommy Douglas, the long-time CCF Premier of Saskatchewan, was elected as its first leader.

David Lewis

At the 1971 leadership convention, an activist group called

the Waffle The Waffle (also known as the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada) was a radical wing of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It later transformed into an independent political party, with little elect ...

tried to take control of the party but was defeated by David Lewis with the help of the union members. The following year, most of The Waffle split from the NDP and formed their own party. The NDP itself supported the minority government formed by the

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...

–led Liberals from 1972 to 1974, although the two parties never entered into a

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

. Together, they succeeded in passing several socially progressive initiatives into law such as pension indexing and the creation of the crown corporation

Petro-Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rece ...

. In 1974, the NDP worked with the Progressive Conservatives to pass a motion of non-confidence, forcing an election. However, it backfired as Trudeau's Liberals regained a majority government, mostly at the expense of the NDP, which lost half its seats. Lewis lost his own riding and resigned as leader the following year.

Ed Broadbent

Under Ed Broadbent (1975–1989) the NDP attempted to find a more populist image to contrast with the governing parties, focusing on more pocketbook issues than on ideological fervour. The party played a critical role during Joe Clark's minority government of 1979–1980, moving the non-confidence motion on John Crosbie's 1979 budget that brought down the Progressive Conservative government and forced the 1980 election that brought the Liberal Party back to power. In the 1984 election, which saw the Progressive Conservatives under

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...

win the most seats in Canadian history, the NDP won 30 seats, while the governing Liberals fell to 40 seats. The NDP set a then-record of 43 members of parliament (MPs) elected to the house in the election of 1988. The Liberals, however, had reaped most of the benefits of opposing the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement to emerge as the dominant alternative to the ruling PC government. In 1989, Broadbent stepped down after 14 years as federal leader of the NDP.

Audrey McLaughlin

At the party's leadership convention in 1989, former BC Premier Dave Barrett and Yukon MP Audrey McLaughlin were the main contenders for the leadership. During the campaign, Barrett argued that the party should be concerned with western alienation, rather than focusing its attention on Quebec. The Quebec wing of the NDP strongly opposed Barrett's candidacy, with

Phil Edmonston Louis-Phillip Edmonston (26 May 1944 – 2 December 2022) was a Canadian consumer advocate, writer, journalist, and politician. Along with Andrew Scheer, he was one of the few politicians with dual American and Canadian citizenship to be electe ...

, the party's main spokesman in Quebec, threatening to resign from the party if Barrett won. McLaughlin ran on a more traditional approach, and became the first woman to lead a major federal political party in Canada. Although enjoying strong support among organized labour and rural voters in the Prairies, McLaughlin tried to expand their support into Quebec without much success. Under McLaughlin, the party did manage to win an election in Quebec for the first time when Edmonston won a 1990 by-election. McLaughlin and the NDP were routed in the 1993 election, where the party won only nine seats, three seats short of official party status in the House of Commons. This was, and remains, the NDP's lowest seat total in any election since the party's founding in 1961; the election also resulted in the lowest-ever total number of votes received by the NDP in a federal election. The loss was blamed on the unpopularity of NDP provincial governments under

Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...

in Ontario and Mike Harcourt in British Columbia and the loss of a significant portion of the Western vote to the Reform Party, which promised a more decentralized and democratic federation along with right-wing economic reforms.

Alexa McDonough

McLaughlin resigned in 1995 and was succeeded by

Alexa McDonough Alexa Ann McDonough ( Shaw; August 11, 1944 – January 15, 2022) was a Canadian politician who became the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Nova Scotia, when she was elected the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party's (NSN ...

, the former leader of the

Nova Scotia NDP The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is a social democracy, social-democratic, Progressive politics, progressive provincial party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the provincial entity of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP). It was founded as the ...

. In contrast to traditional Canadian practice, where an MP for a safe seat stands down to allow a newly elected leader a chance to enter Parliament via a by-election, McDonough opted to wait until the next election to enter Parliament. The party recovered somewhat in the 1997 election, electing 21 members. The NDP made a breakthrough in

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

, a region where they had been practically nonexistent at the federal level. Before 1997, they had won only three seats in the Atlantic in their entire history. However, in 1997 they won eight seats in that region. The party was able to harness the discontent of voters in the Atlantic, who were upset over cuts to employment insurance and other social programs implemented by

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

's Liberal majority government. In the November 2000 election, the NDP campaigned primarily on the issue of Medicare but lost significant support. The governing Liberals ran an effective campaign on their economic record and managed to recapture some of the Atlantic ridings lost to the NDP in the 1997 election. The initial high electoral prospects of the Canadian Alliance under new leader

Stockwell Day Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (born August 16, 1950) is a Canadian former politician who led the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. A provincial cabinet minister from Alberta, Day served as minister ...

also hurt the NDP as many supporters strategically voted Liberal to keep the Alliance from winning. The NDP finished with 13 MPs—just barely over the threshold for official party status. McDonough announced her resignation as party leader for family reasons in June 2002 (effective upon her successor's election).

21st century

Jack Layton

A Toronto city councillor and recent President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Jack Layton was elected at the party's leadership election in Toronto on January 25, 2003. The 2004 election produced mixed results for the NDP. It increased its total vote by more than a million votes; however, despite Layton's optimistic predictions of reaching 40 seats, the NDP only gained five seats in the election, for a total of 19. The party was disappointed to see its two Saskatchewan incumbents defeated in close races by the new

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

(created by merger of the Alliance and PC parties), perhaps because of the unpopularity of the NDP provincial government. The Liberals were re-elected, though this time as a

. Combined, the Liberals and NDP had 154 seats – one short of the total needed for the balance of power. As has been the case with Liberal minorities in the past, the NDP were in a position to make gains on the party's priorities, such as fighting health care privatization, fulfilling Canada's obligation to the

Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...

, and electoral reform. The party used Prime Minister Paul Martin's politically precarious position caused by the sponsorship scandal to force investment in multiple federal programs, agreeing not to help topple the government provided that some major concessions in the federal budget were ceded to. On November 9, 2005, after the findings of the

Gomery Inquiry The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. ...

were released, Layton notified the Liberal government that continued NDP support would require a ban on private healthcare. When the Liberals refused, Layton announced that he would introduce a motion on November 24 that would ask Martin to call a federal election in February to allow for several pieces of legislation to be passed. The Liberals turned down this offer. On November 28, 2005, Conservative leader

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

's motion of no confidence was seconded by Layton and it was passed by all three opposition parties, forcing an election. During the election the NDP won 29 seats, a significant increase of 10 seats from the 19 won in 2004. It was the fourth-best performance in party history, approaching the level of popular support enjoyed in the 1980s. The NDP kept all of the 18 seats it held at the dissolution of Parliament. While the party gained no seats in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, or the Prairie provinces, it gained five seats in British Columbia, five more in Ontario and the Western Arctic riding of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. The Conservatives won a minority government in the 2006 election, and initially the NDP was the only party that would not be able to pass legislation with the Conservatives. However, following a series of floor crossings, the NDP also came to hold the balance of power. The NDP voted against the government in all four confidence votes in the 39th parliament, the only party to do so. However, it worked with the Conservatives on other issues, including in passing the

Federal Accountability Act The Federal Accountability Act (full title: "An Act providing for conflict of interest rules, restrictions on election financing and measures respecting administrative transparency, oversight and accountability") (the Act) is a statute introduce ...

and pushing for changes to the Clean Air Act. Following that election, the NDP caucus rose to 30 members with the victory of NDP candidate Thomas Mulcair in a by-election in Outremont. This marked the second time ever (and first time in seventeen years) that the NDP won a riding in Quebec. The party won 37 seats in the 2008 federal election, the best performance since the 1988 total of 43. This included a breakthrough in the riding of

Edmonton-Strathcona Edmonton-Strathcona is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It shares the same name as the federal electoral district of Edmonton Strathcona. The boundaries of Edmonton-Strathcona include the neig ...

, only the second time the NDP had managed to win a seat in Alberta in the party's history. In the 2011 federal election, the NDP won a record 103 seats, becoming the

for the first time in the party's history. The party had a historic breakthrough in Quebec, where they won 59 out of 75 seats, dominating Montreal and sweeping Quebec City and the Outaouais. This meant that a majority of the party's MPs now came from a province where they had only ever had two candidates elected in the party's history. The NDP's success in Quebec was mirrored by the collapse of the

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...

, which lost all but four of its 47 seats, and the collapse of the Liberal Party nationally, which was cut down to just 34 seats, its worst-ever result. This also marked the first time in history where the Liberal Party was neither the government nor the Official Opposition, as the NDP had taken over the latter role. The NDP was now the second largest party in the House of Commons opposing a Conservative majority government. In July 2011, Layton announced that he was suffering from a new cancer and would take a leave of absence, projected to last until the resumption of Parliament in September. He would retain his position of NDP Leader and Leader of the Opposition. The party confirmed his suggestion of

Hull—Aylmer Hull—Aylmer (formerly known as Hull) is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It was created as "Hull" in 1914 from parts of Labelle and Wright ridings. It ...

Nycole Turmel Nycole Turmel (born September 1, 1942) is a Canadian politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Hull—Aylmer from 2011 to 2015. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Turmel served as the party's interim leader from 2011 ...

to carry out the functions of party leader in his absence. Layton died from his cancer on August 22, 2011.

Tom Mulcair

In his final letter, Layton called for a leadership election to be held in early 2012 to choose his successor, which was held on March 24, 2012, and elected new leader Tom Mulcair. Despite early campaign polls which showed the NDP in first place, the party lost 59 seats in the 2015 election and fell back to third place in Parliament. By winning 44 seats, Mulcair was able to secure the second best showing in the party's history, winning one more seat than Ed Broadbent managed in the 1988 election, but with a smaller share of the popular vote. NDP seat gains in Saskatchewan and British Columbia were offset by numerical losses in almost every other region, while in Alberta and Manitoba the party maintained its existing seat counts. The party was locked out of the Atlantic Region and the Territories, and lost over half of its seats in Ontario including all of its seats in Toronto. In Quebec, the NDP lost seats to all three of the other major parties, namely the Liberals, Conservatives, and Bloc Québécois, though it managed to place second in both vote share (25.4%) and seats (16) behind the Liberals in the province. The election resulted in a Liberal majority government. Mulcair's leadership faced criticism following the election, culminating in his losing a

leadership review In Canadian politics, a leadership review is a vote held at a political party convention in which delegates decide whether to endorse the incumbent party leader or schedule a leadership convention to elect a new leader. In most parties at present, ...

vote held at the NDP's policy convention in Edmonton, Alberta on April 10, 2016. This marked the first time in Canadian federal politics that a leader was defeated in a confidence vote. Consequently, his successor was to be chosen at a leadership election to be held no later than October 2017, with Mulcair agreeing to remain as leader until then.Mulcair 'a lame duck,' says political scientist on NDP convention results
CBC News, April 10, 2016

Jagmeet Singh

On October 1, 2017,

Jagmeet Singh Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal ( ; born January 2, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2017. Singh has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby South since 2019.visible minority group to lead a major Canadian federal political party on a permanent basis, won the leadership vote to head the NDP on the first ballot. In the 2019 federal election, the NDP won only 24 seats in its worst result since 2004, shedding 15 seats. Alexandre Boulerice, who was elected to his third term in

Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie (formerly known as Rosemont and Rosemont—Petite-Patrie) is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. Geography The district includes ...

, was the only NDP candidate to win a seat in Quebec, while the party lost all three of its Saskatchewan ridings ( Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River,

Regina—Lewvan Regina—Lewvan is a federal riding in Saskatchewan, made up of parts of the former Palliser and Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre ridings within the city limits of Regina. Regina—Lewvan was created in the 2012 federal electoral boundaries ...

, and Saskatoon West) to the Conservatives.Andrew Scheer's Conservatives sweep over the Prairies in the 2019 federal election results
National Post, October 22, 2019 The party remained shut out of Toronto and lost two of its MPs (

Cheryl Hardcastle Cheryl Hardcastle is a Canadian politician and former member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for the federal electoral district of Windsor—Tecumseh, first elected during the 2015 Canadian federal election. She is a member of t ...

Windsor—Tecumseh Windsor—Tecumseh is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. Geography Windsor—Tecumseh consists of the Town of Tecumseh, and the part of the City of Winds ...

and

Tracey Ramsey Tracey Ramsey (born April 14, 1971) is a former Member of Parliament who represented the riding of Essex in the House of Commons of Canada for one term, from the 2015 Canadian federal election until 2019. In the 42nd Canadian Parliament, Rams ...

in Essex) in the rest of Ontario, while making small or no gains in the popular vote in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta and Nunavut. In British Columbia, the NDP lost three seats (

Kootenay—Columbia Kootenay—Columbia is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Geography Consisting of: *(a) the Regional District of East Kootenay; *(b) that part of ...

, Port Moody—Coquitlam, and, after having lost it at a by-election,

Nanaimo—Ladysmith Nanaimo—Ladysmith is a federal electoral district in British Columbia. Nanaimo—Ladysmith was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was legally defined in the 2013 representation order. It has come into effect ...

) but retained most of their support in the province. Following the election, the NDP held the balance of power as the Liberals won a minority government, although it fell back to fourth place behind the resurgent Bloc Québécois. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the NDP used its leverage to lobby the Liberals to be more generous in their financial aid to Canadians, including by extending of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program, which was a key demand in order to provide confidence to the government in the autumn of 2020. In the

snap Snap or SNAP may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Snap'', the original release title for the 2013 film ''Enter the Dangerous Mind'' *''Snap'' (TV series), a CITV programme * ''The Stanly News and Press'', a newspaper in Albemarle, North Carol ...

2021 federal election, the NDP made minor gains in both vote share and seat count, winning in 25 ridings. The party won a second seat in Alberta for the first time when

Blake Desjarlais Blake Desjarlais (born December 29, 1993) is a Canadian politician who has represented Edmonton Griesbach in the House of Commons since 2021. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Desjarlais is of Cree and Métis descent, making him Al ...

picked up

Edmonton Griesbach Edmonton Griesbach is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta. Edmonton Griesbach was created by the Canadian federal electoral redistribution, 2012, 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was legally d ...

and

Heather McPherson Heather Avis McPherson (28 May 1942 – 10 January 2017) was a feminist poet, publisher and editor who played a key role in supporting women artists and writers in New Zealand. In 1976, she founded the Spiral Collective group and ''Spiral,'' ...

won her second term at Edmonton Strathcona. The party also picked up two seats in British Columbia with

Lisa Marie Barron Lisa Marie Barron is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, British Columbia, in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2021 Canadian federal election. She represents the New Democratic Party. Ba ...

reclaiming Nanaimo—Ladysmith and Bonita Zarrillo reclaiming Port Moody—Coquitlam. These gains were offset by losses to the Liberals in

St. John's East St. John's East (french: St. John's-Est; formerly known as St. John's North) is a federal electoral district in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1949. It covers a part of St ...

and

Hamilton Mountain Hamilton is located on the western end of the Niagara Peninsula and wraps around the westernmost part of the Lake Ontario. Most of the city including the downtown section lies along the south shore. Situated in the geographic centre of the Golden ...

, where incumbent NDP MPs

Jack Harris Jack Harris may refer to: Entertainment * Jack Harris (film editor) (1905–1971), English film editor * Jack H. Harris (1918–2017), American film producer * Jack Harris (broadcaster) (born 1941), American radio personality based in Tampa, Florid ...

and

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did not stand for re-election. Overall, the election resulted in no change to the balance of power in the House of Commons. In March 2022, the NDP agreed to a confidence and supply deal with the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Ideology and policies

The NDP evolved in 1961 from a merger of the

(CLC) and the

(CCF). The CCF grew from populist, agrarian and socialist roots into a modern social democratic party. Although the CCF was part of the

Christian left The Christian left is a range of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel. Given the inherent diversity in international political thoug ...

and the

Social Gospel The Social Gospel is a social movement within Protestantism that aims to apply Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean envir ...

movement, the NDP is secular and pluralistic. It has broadened to include concerns of the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...

, and advocates issues such as LGBT rights,

, and

stewardship. The NDP also supports a mixed economy and broader welfare.

Ideological orientation

The NDP's constitution states that both social democracy and democratic socialism are influences on the party. Specific inclusion of the party's history as the continuation of the more radical Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and specific identification of the "democratic socialist" tradition as a continuing influence on the party are part of the language of the preamble to the party's constitution:

Health care

The NDP states that it is committed to public health care. The party states that it fights for "a national, universal, public pharmacare program to make sure that all Canadians can access the prescription medicine they need with their health card, not their credit card – saving money and improving health outcomes for everyone". The party also states its support for expanding services covered under the national health care system to include dental care, mental health care, eye and hearing care, infertility procedures, and prescription drugs. Regarding dentistry, the NDP notes that "one in three Canadians has no dental insurance and over six million people don't visit the dentist every year because they can't afford to. Too many people are forced to go without the care they need until the pain is so severe that they are forced to seek relief in hospital emergency rooms".

Electoral achievements

Since its formation, the party has had a presence in the House of Commons. It was the third largest political party from 1965 to 1993, when the party dropped to fourth and lost official party status. The NDP's peak period of policy influence in those periods was during the minority Liberal governments of Lester B. Pearson (1963–68) and

(1972–74). The NDP regained official status in 1997, and played a similar role in the Liberal and Conservative minority governments of 2004–2006 and 2006–2011, respectively. Following the 2011 election, the party became the second-largest party and formed the

in the

41st Canadian Parliament The 41st Canadian Parliament was in session from June 2, 2011 to August 2, 2015, with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 2011 federal election held on May 2, 2011. Parliament convened on June 2, 2 ...

. Provincial New Democratic parties, which are organizationally sections of the federal party, have governed in six of the ten Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and a territory. The NDP governs the province of British Columbia, forms the Official Opposition in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, and have sitting members in every provincial legislature except those of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. The NDP has previously formed the government in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and the Yukon Territory. The NDP has previously had at least one sitting member in every provincial legislature except that of Quebec. While members of the party are active in municipal politics, the party does not organize at that level. For example, though former Toronto mayor David Miller (Canadian politician), David Miller was an NDP member during his successful 2003 and 2006 mayoral campaigns, his campaigns were not affiliated with the NDP.

Provincial and territorial wings

Unlike most other Canadian federal parties, the NDP is integrated with its provincial and territorial parties. Holding membership of a provincial or territorial section of the NDP includes automatic membership in the federal party, and this precludes a person from being a member of different parties at the federal and provincial levels. Membership lists are maintained by the provinces and territories. There have been three exceptions: Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Quebec. In Nunavut and in the Northwest Territories, whose territorial legislatures have non-partisan consensus governments, the federal NDP is promoted by its riding associations, since each territory is composed of only one federal Electoral district (Canada), riding. In Quebec, the Parti de la Democratie Socialiste, historical New Democratic Party of Quebec was integrated with the federal party from 1963 until 1989, when the two agreed to sever their structural ties after the Quebec party adopted a Quebec sovereignty, sovereigntist platform. From then on, the federal NDP was represented in Quebec only by their Quebec Section, whose activities in the province were limited to the federal level. However, following the party's breakthrough in the province in the 2011 federal election, the NDP announced their plans to recreate a provincial party in Quebec in time for the following Quebec general election. The modern New Democratic Party of Quebec party was registered with the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec on January 30, 2014, but it failed to nominate any candidates in the 2014 Quebec general election, 2014 election. The new NPDQ is not affiliated to the federal NDP due to more recent provincial laws in Quebec which disallow provincial parties from affiliating with federal parties. The NDP in Quebec has been in decline since 2016, struggling to attract local leaders and support. (Provincial/territorial wings of current NDP government are in bold) The most successful provincial section of the party has been the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party, which first came to power in 1944 as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation under Tommy Douglas and has won eleven of the province's elections since then. In Canada, Douglas is often cited as the Father of medicare, "Father of Medicare" since, as Saskatchewan Premier, he introduced Canada's first publicly funded, universal healthcare system to the province. Despite the historic success of the Saskatchewan branch of the party, the NDP was shut out of Saskatchewan for the 2004 Canadian federal election, 2004, 2006 Canadian federal election, 2006, 2008 Canadian federal election, 2008, and 2011 Canadian federal election, 2011 federal elections, before winning three seats there in the 2015 Canadian federal election, 2015 federal election. The NDP would once again be shut out of Saskatchewan as part of the Conservatives sweep of the province in the 2019 Canadian federal election, 2019 election. The New Democratic Party has also formed government in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Yukon.

Federal leaders

A list of leaders (including acting leaders) since 1961. ; Notes

Federal party presidents

The party president is the administrative chairperson of the party, chairing party conventions, councils and executive meetings.

Election results

Results timeline

Logos

Notes

References

External links

*
New Democratic Party – Canadian Political Parties and Political Interest Groups
– Web Archive created by the University of Toronto Libraries
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and New Democratic Party fonds
at Library and Archives Canada {{Authority control New Democratic Party (Canada), 1961 establishments in Canada Political parties established in 1961 Social democratic parties in Canada Non-interventionist parties Centre-left parties Progressive Alliance Socialism in Canada Labour parties in Canada Federal political parties in Canada