New Democratic Party

This page is about the Canadian political party. For other parties, see New Democratic Party (disambiguation).

The New Democratic Party (French: Nouveau Parti démocratique) is a social democratic political party in Canada. It contests elections at the federal and provincial levels. In the Canadian House of Commons, it represents the left wing of the Canadian political spectrum while the Liberal and Conservative parties represent the centre and right wings, respectively. The NDP is a member of the Socialist International organization of socialist parties.

The NDP is noted for its populist, agrarian and socialist roots, its close affiliation with organized labour, and, while the party is secular and pluralistic, its longstanding relationship with the Christian left and the Social Gospel movement, particularly the United Church of Canada. The federal leader of the NDP is Jack Layton.

The NDP has never formed the federal government, but has wielded considerable influence during federal minority governments, such as in the current 38th Parliament.

Provincial New Democratic Parties, technically sections of the federal party, have governed several provinces and a territory. They currently govern the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, form the Official Opposition in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Yukon, and have sitting members in every provincial legislature except those of Quebec and Prince Edward Island. In previous terms, they have formed governments in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia, and in Yukon territory.

New Democrats are also active municipally, and have been elected mayors, councillors, and school and service board members — Toronto mayor David Miller is a leading example. Like most municipal office-holders in Canada, they are usually elected as independents or with autonomous municipal parties.

Contents

1 History

2 Structure

3 Provincial and territorial parties

4 Current members of Parliament

5 Federal leaders

6 Federal election results 1962–2004

7 See also: articles on MPs, former MPs

9 See also

10 External links

History

Tommy Douglas	Missing image Davidlewis.jpg David Lewis
Ed Broadbent	Missing image Audreymclaughlin.jpg Audrey McLaughlin
Alexa McDonough	Jack Layton

The NDP was created in 1961 as a merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). Tommy Douglas, the long-time CCF Premier of Saskatchewan, was elected the party's first leader. In 1960, before the NDP was officially registered, one candidate, Walter Pitman, won a by-election under the New Party banner.

The influence of organized labour on the party is still reflected in the party's leadership elections as labour votes are scaled to 25% of the total number of ballots cast. Until 1983, the basic statement of principles of the party was embodied in the Winnipeg Declaration, which had been passed by the CCF in 1956.

Under the leadership of David Lewis (1971-1975), the NDP supported the minority government formed by Pierre Trudeau's Liberals from 1972 to 1974, although the two parties never entered into a coalition. Together they succeeded in passing many left-wing initiatives into law, including pension indexing and the creation of a nationalized oil and gas company, Petro-Canada.

Under the leadership of Ed Broadbent (1975-1989), the NDP played a critical role during Joe Clark's minority government of 1979-1980, moving the no-confidence motion on John Crosbie's budget that brought down the Progressive Conservative government, and forced the election that brought Trudeau's Liberal Party back to power.

In number of seats, the federal NDP reached its apogee with 43 Members of Parliament (MPs) in the election of 1988. The Conservatives, however, won a second majority. In 1989, Broadbent stepped down after 15 years as federal leader of the NDP, although he has recently returned from retirement, and won election to Parliament in the riding of Ottawa Centre in the 2004 election.

Over three election cycles, under the leadership of Audrey McLaughlin (1989-1995) — the first woman to be leader of a national political party in Parliament — in the first, and Alexa McDonough (1995-2003) over the next two, the party underwent a marked decline in popularity, a modest resurgence, and a slight further decline. Among other factors, the unpopularity of Bob Rae's provincial NDP government in Ontario hurt the federal party's fortunes. In the 1993 election, in which it won only 9 seats, it lost official party status in the House of Commons. Twelve MPs are required by the rules of the House of Commons for official party status. This status was regained in the 1997 election, in which 21 New Democrats were elected.

The party embarked in a renewal process starting in 2000. A general convention in Winnipeg in November 2001 made significant alterations to certain party structures, and reaffirmed its commitment to the left. In the May 2002 by-elections, Brian Masse won the riding of Windsor West in Windsor, Ontario, previously held for decades by a Liberal, former Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray.

Alexa McDonough announced her resignation as party leader for family reasons in June 2002, and was succeeded by Jack Layton. Layton, a former Toronto city councillor, was elected at the party's leadership election in Toronto on January 25, 2003, defeating his nearest rival, longtime MP Bill Blaikie, on the first ballot with 53.5% of the vote. Layton did not seek a seat in the House of Commons until the 2004 election.

In the 2004 election, the NDP won the third largest number of votes, behind the Conservative Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada. The party gained five seats in the election, for a total of 19. The NDP won fewer seats than the Bloc Québécois, though, whose smaller portion of the overall popular vote was concentrated in Quebec ridings. The party was also bitterly disappointed to see its two Saskatchewan incumbents defeated by the Conservatives, both in close races. Those losses caused the federal NDP to be shut out in Saskatchewan for the first time since its formation, despite obtaining 23% of the vote in the province.

The Liberals were reelected to the 38th Canadian parliament, though this time as a minority government. The number of seats needed to form a majority government in the 2004 election was 154, exactly one more than the total resulting Liberal and NDP count. The election of a Speaker,and the fact that the Liberal caucus has lost three members since the election, have further decreased this total. The NDP may play an important role in getting legislation passed, particularly instituting electoral reform with proportional representation (PR). PR enjoys at least tacit support from all the opposition parties, which would apparently see elections to the House of Commons modelled on the system used in Germany. Also, there is historical precedent to the Liberals and NDP cooperating such as in the early 1960s and 1970s that laid the national framework for universal healthcare, expansion of employment insurance and the indexing of pensions.

On May 19, 2005, by Speaker Peter Milliken's tie-breaking vote, the House of Commons voted for second reading on major NDP amendments to the federal budget, preempting about $4.5 billion in corporate tax cuts and funding social, educational and environmental programs instead. Both supporters and opponents of the measures branded it Canada's first "NDP budget." The governing Liberals had agreed to support the changes in exchange for NDP support on confidence votes.

The most successful provincial section of the party has been the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party, which first came to power in 1944 as the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation under Tommy Douglas and has won most of the province's elections since then. In Canada, Tommy Douglas is often cited as the Father of Medicare since, as Saskatchewan Premier, he introduced the first publicly-funded, universal healthcare system there.

Structure

Unlike other Canadian parties, the NDP is integrated with its provincial and territorial parties, such that a member of a provincial or territorial NDP is ipso facto a member of the federal NDP.

There are three exceptions. In Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, whose territorial legislatures have no parties, the federal NDP is promoted by its riding associations, since each territory is composed of only one federal riding.

In Quebec, the Quebec New Democratic Party and the federal NDP agreed in 1989 to sever their structural ties after the Quebec party adopted a sovereignist platform. Since then, the federal NDP is not integrated with a provincial party in that province; instead, it has a section, the Nouveau Parti démocratique-Section Québec (http://www.npd.qc.ca), whose activities in the province are limited to the federal level, whereas on the provincial level its members are individually free to support or adhere to any party.

Provincial and territorial parties

The provincial New Democratic Parties are sections of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada. According to the party constitution a member of a provincial or territorial NDP is automatically a member of the federal NDP - the federal NDP has no membership of its own except in Quebec where the party has no provincial counterpart. This distinguishes the NDP from the Liberal and Conservative parties which have more complex relationships with their provincial counterparts (and in some cases, no formal relationship) and seperate provincial and federal memberships.

**Provincial and territorial parties, current seats, and leaders**
Party	Seats/Total	Leader
Alberta New Democratic Party	4/83	Brian Mason, MLA
New Democratic Party of British Columbia	33/79	Carole James, MLA
New Democratic Party of Manitoba	35/57	Hon. Gary Doer, MLA, Premier of Manitoba
New Brunswick New Democratic Party	1/55	Elizabeth Weir, MLA*
New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador	2/48	Jack Harris, MHA
Nova Scotia New Democratic Party	15/52	Darrell Dexter, MLA
Ontario New Democratic Party	8/103	Howard Hampton, MPP
Island New Democrats (P.E.I.)	0/27	Gary Robichaud
Saskatchewan New Democratic Party	30/58	Hon. Lorne Calvert, MLA, Premier of Saskatchewan
Yukon New Democratic Party	5/18	Todd Hardy, MLA

* Weir, who was elected leader in 1988, will be replaced upon the election of her successor on September 25, 2005

From 1963 to 1994 there was a New Democratic Party of Quebec.

**Chart of the best showings for provincial parties, and the election that provided the results**
Province/Territory	Seats - Status	Election years and party leaders at the time
Alberta	16 - Official Opposition	1986, Ray Martin; 1989, Ray Martin
British Columbia	51 - Government	1991, Michael Harcourt
Manitoba	35 - Government	2003, Gary Doer
New Brunswick	2	New Brunswick 1984 by-election, George Little
Newfoundland and Labrador	2	1987 by election Peter Fenwick ; 1999, 2003, Jack Harris
Nova Scotia	19 - Official Opposition	1998, Robert Chisholm
Ontario	74 - Government	1990, Bob Rae
Prince Edward Island	1	1996, Herb Dickieson
Quebec	1	1944, (CCF)
Saskatchewan	55 - Government	1991, Roy Romanow
Yukon	11 - Government	1996

Current members of Parliament

As of June 29, 2004, the NDP holds 19 seats in the House of Commons. For a list of NDP MPs and their critic portfolios see New Democratic Party Shadow Cabinet.

One senator, Lillian Dyck, chooses to associate herself with the NDP. However the party does not allow her to be part of the parliamentary caucus, as the NDP favours the abolition of the Senate. She therefore sits in the Senate as an Independent New Democrat.

Federal leaders

Tommy Douglas (August 3, 1961 - April 23, 1971)
David Lewis (April 24, 1971 - July 6, 1975)
Ed Broadbent (July 7, 1975] - December 4, 1989)
Audrey McLaughlin (December 5, 1989 - October 13, 1995)
Alexa McDonough (October 14, 1995 - January 24, 2003)
Jack Layton (January 25, 2003 - present)

Federal election results 1962–2004

Election	# of candidates	# of seats won	# of total votes	% of popular vote
1962	217	19	1,044,754	13.57%
1963	232	17	1,044,701	13.24%
1965	255	21	1,381,658	17.91%
1968	263	22	1,378,263	16.96%
1972	252	31	1,725,719	17.83%
1974	262	16	1,467,748	15.44%
1979	282	26	2,048,988	17.88%
1980	280	32	2,150,368	19.67%
1984	282	30	2,359,915	18.81%
1988	295	43	2,685,263	20.38%
1993	294	9	933,688	6.88%
1997	301	21	1,434,509	11.05%
2000	298	13	1,093,748	8.51%
2004	308	19	2,116,536	15.7%

External links

Official website (http://www.ndp.ca)
Quebec section of the federal NDP (http://www.npd.qc.ca)
Alex Ng's NDP links page (http://home.ican.net/~alexng/ndp.html)

Template:NDP

Federal Political Parties of Canada
Liberal Missing image Lpcsmall.jpg image:lpcsmall.jpg	Conservative Missing image Cpcsmall.jpg image:cpcsmall.jpg	Bloc Québécois	N.D.P.
Not represented in the House of Commons
Action Missing image Capsmall.PNG image:capsmall.PNG	C.H.P. Missing image Chpsmall.PNG image:chpsmall.PNG	Communist Missing image Cmpcsmall.PNG image:cmpcsmall.PNG	Green Missing image Gpcsmall.jpg image:gpcsmall.jpg
Libertarian Missing image Ltpcsmall.PNG image:ltpcsmall.PNG	Marijuana Missing image Mpsmall.PNG image:mpsmall.PNG	Marxist-Leninist Missing image Mlpcsmall2.PNG image:mlpcsmall2.PNG	PC Party Missing image Pcpsmall.PNG image:pcpsmall.PNG
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