New Democratic Party

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Democratic Party
Nouveau Parti démocratique
AbbreviationEnglish: NDP
French: NPD
LeaderJagmeet Singh
PresidentMathieu Vick
National DirectorMelissa Bruno
Deputy LeaderAlexandre Boulerice
Sheri Benson
Founded3 August 1961 (62 years ago) (1961-08-03)[1]
Preceded by
HeadquartersOttawa, Ontario
Youth wingNew Democratic Youth of Canada
MembershipIncrease 124,620 (2017)[2]
IdeologySocial democracy[3][4][5]
Democratic socialism
Political positionCentre-left[6][7][8][9] to left-wing[10]
International affiliationProgressive Alliance[11]
Colours  Orange
Seats in the Senate
0 / 105
Seats in the House of Commons
24 / 338
Website
English language: www.ndp.ca
French language: www.npd.ca

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is a social democratic political party in Canada. It was formed in 1961 when the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation merged with the Canadian Labour Congress. In Canadian politics, the NDP is to the left of the Liberal Party.

Wings of the NDP have formed governments in several provinces. It forms the current government in British Columbia. In the 2011 federal elections it won 98 out of 308 seats in the House of Commons.[12]

The current party leader is Jagmeet Singh. He became the leader in October 2017.

Provincial and territorial parties[change | change source]

The NDP is not like other Canadian political parties. All the provincial and territorial parties are a direct part of the national/federal NDP. This means that if someone is a member of a provincial NDP party, they are automatically a member of the federal NDP.

This is not the case in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Quebec. This is because both the governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are consensus governments. Because of this, those governments do not have political parties. The NDP are represented by their groups in charge of the ridings in those territories (both Nunavut and the Northwest Territories each have one riding). In Quebec in 1989, the provincial NDP and the federal NDP decided to separate. This is because the Quebec NDP wanted Quebec to leave Canada. In 2014, the Quebec NDP restarted but it is not related to the federal NDP.[13][14]

Current seat counts and leaders of provincial and territorial parties
Party Seats / Total Role in legislature Last election Leader
Alberta New Democratic Party
24 / 87
Official Opposition 2019 Rachel Notley
British Columbia New Democratic Party
41 / 87
Government (minority) 2017 John Horgan
New Democratic Party of Manitoba
18 / 57
Official Opposition 2019 Wab Kinew
New Brunswick New Democratic Party
0 / 55
No presence 2018 Jennifer McKenzie
New Democratic Party of
Newfoundland and Labrador
3 / 40
Third party 2019 Alison Coffin
Nova Scotia New Democratic Party
5 / 51
Third party 2017 Gary Burrill
Ontario New Democratic Party
40 / 124
Official Opposition 2018 Andrea Horwath
New Democratic Party of Quebec
0 / 125
No presence 2018 Raphaël Fortin
New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island
0 / 27
No presence 2019 Joe Byrne
Saskatchewan New Democratic Party
13 / 61
Official Opposition 2016 Ryan Meili
Yukon New Democratic Party
2 / 19
Third party 2016 Elizabeth Hanson

References[change | change source]

  1. Neville, William (3 August 1961). "Douglas Leads New Party, 'Democratic' Tag in Name". The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver. UPI. p. 1. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  2. Éric Grenier (29 August 2017). "NDP triples its membership to 124,000 in run-up to party's leadership vote". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  3. William Cross (September 2012). "The Canadian New Democratic Party: A New Big Player in Canadian Politics?" (PDF). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  4. Jessica Murphy (26 September 2017). "Who will Canada's New Democrats pick to take on Trudeau?". BBC News. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  5. Gerard Di Trolio (4 June 2018). "The NDP Claws Its Way Back". Jacobin. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  6. David McGrane (2018). "Electoral competition in Canada among the centre-left parties: liberal versus social democrats". In Rob Manwaring; Paul Kennedy (eds.). Why the Left Loses: The Decline of the Centre-Left in Comparative Perspective. Policy Press. pp. 39–52. ISBN 978-1-4473-3266-4.
  7. "Canada's New Democrats elect Jagmeet Singh as party leader". BBC News. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  8. How Canada's politics are different to Australia's. ABC. Author - Annabelle Quince. Published 16 October 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  9. Death of Jack Layton Weakens Canada’s Political Opposition. The New York Times. Author - Ian Austen. Published 22 August 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2019
  10. Andrea Olive (2015). The Canadian Environment in Political Context. University of Toronto Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4426-0871-9.
  11. "Parties & Organisations of the Progressive Alliance". progressive-alliance.info. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  12. "Calgary NDP's celebrate official opposition". 3 May 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  13. "Nouveau Parti démocratique du Québec". Élections Québec. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  14. Yoon, Jennifer (12 September 2018). "New Democratic Party of Quebec returns as an option for progressive federalists". CBC News. Retrieved 13 June 2019.