EDMONTON —
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has convened his MPs to meet in “target” Edmonton over the next few days to plot out their strategy for the return to Parliament.
As the 2024 political year gets rolling, the federal New Democrats have descended on Alberta for a three-day caucus meeting, with electoral growth and policy goals top of mind.
“Edmonton is one of our targets,” Singh said to a group of bundled-up volunteers that gathered at a local community centre to join their leader and local MPs — past, present and prospective — to go knock on doors Monday afternoon.
The party has indicated it is looking to grow its support in the city and the province, beyond its current two MPs Heather McPherson and Blake Desjarlais.
Both federal politicians accompanied Singh and Trisha Estabrooks — the NDP candidate looking to defeat Liberal cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault — for the canvas.
NDP Leader @theJagmeetSingh is convening his federal caucus in Edmonton over the next three days to plot out their 2024 political and parliamentary strategy.
To kick the week off, he went out door-knocking in the Edmonton Centre neighborhood of Inglewood. pic.twitter.com/lbII7VbzyN
— Rachel Aiello (@rachaiello) January 23, 2024
“The word that I think of every time I knock on doors in Edmonton Centre is ‘momentum,'” Estabrooks said.
Singh is expected to face reporters’ questions midday Tuesday about the state of the federal NDP and what policies his team plans to prioritize in the House of Commons, as they dive into internal discussions on these topics and more.
Affordability still leading issue
With affordability, housing and health care among the most top-of-mind issues for voters across the country, the NDP is optimistic about coming out of this strategy session with fresh ideas about carrying that “momentum” back to Ottawa, to push Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to deliver on his outstanding confidence-and-supply commitments.
Tapped to help in that effort is Anne McGrath, who recently left her role as the party’s national director to become Singh’s “principal secretary.” She’s been asked to play a more prominent role in “overseeing progress” on the two-party pact inked in 2022.
According to the NDP, McGrath’s pivot is part of their plans to position the party “for success in the next federal election,” currently just a year and a half away.
With that looming deadline in mind, Singh’s team is spending the next few days both hashing out its 2024 priorities behind closed doors, as well as getting out into the community to hear from residents about what their concerns are.
On Tuesday night, Singh is hosting a town hall in the Inglewood neighbourhood, where during his door-knocking he noted a number of urban infill housing builds are underway.
At the event, Singh’s team has billed his focus as being on hearing from Albertans about “how life has gotten harder for everyday people under the Liberal government,” while also outlining the NDP’s plans to “make life more affordable.”
That same goal of improving Canadians’ cost of living is also coming up over in Montreal, where the prime minister is meeting with his cabinet, and in British Columbia, where Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been rallying supporters.
NDP support stalled?
While Singh’s evening event isn’t expected to draw crowds comparable to those heading out to listen to the Official Opposition leader, now six years into his leadership Singh appears to be avoiding any overt dissent, despite relatively stagnant polling numbers that consistently have the NDP at around 20 per cent support.
Raising the spectre of the strategic voting challenge coming up again, the caucus of 25 is meeting as a newly released Angus Reid survey suggests many NDP voters are indicating a willingness to support the Liberals if that’s what’s needed to stave off a Conservative victory.
According to the polling, 36 per cent of NDP supporters said they’d probably switch their vote to Liberal, while another 30 per cent said they’d consider that option, indicators that if borne out could be “a catastrophic loss of support,” for Singh and his party, the Angus Reid report notes.
Expected to be part of Singh’s case to Canadians come the next campaign is that they have another choice other than the Liberals or Conservatives.
How the party plans to position itself — both in messaging and in action — between now and the next vote as that viable alternative, is some of what’s expected to be hashed out here at this retreat.