Former London NDP MP striking optimistic tone about party's future after election defeat
Former London MP Lindsay Mathyssen is expressing optimism about the future of the federal New Democrats despite the party's historic election defeat and the loss of leader Jagmeet Singh, which she says highlights a need for electoral reform.
Mathyssen's riding of London—Fanshawe was among more than a dozen seats the NDP lost in last week's election, a crushing blow that also left it without official party status in Parliament.
"We do have a lot of conversations to have," as a party, Mathyssen said in an interview Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live. "This will be another rebuild. People have tried to ensure that there isn't a New Democrat voice across this country. That's happened before, and we always come back."
She acknowledged the party has a lot of work ahead in staging that comeback, but the party is capable, and the seven NDP MPs elected "will work with everything that they have." They include Heather McPherson, the re-elected NDP MP of Edmonton Strathcona, who joined Mathyssen for the interview.
Leading up to the vote, some polling aggregators had suggested the possibility of a close race between Mathyssen, who had held the riding since 2019, and Liberal Najam Naqvi. It had been reliably orange since 2006, when Mathyssen's mother, Irene, was first elected.
A close race did play out between them, but it was for second place. Political newbie Conservative Kurt Holman flipped the seat blue for the first time ever, starting the night in first and staying there as results poured in.
Holman received roughly 40 per cent of the vote (23,749 votes), while Naqvi took 30 per cent (17,863) and Mathyssen 27 per cent (16,135). Daniel Buta of the People's Party of Canada placed fourth with just over one per cent (776).
The results suggest that the NDP and PPC hemorrhaged support for the Conservatives and Liberals, whose vote share grew by 16 and seven percentage points, respectively.
Mathyssen believes her support was pulled in two directions, with those angry at the Liberals voting Conservative, those concerned about a Conservative majority voting Liberal, and those concerned about the trade war voting for either.
"Unfortunately, with all of those people who thought they had to vote Liberal in order to avoid that Poilievre majority government, in my riding, they got a Conservative," she said.
"This shows some of the issues in terms of our electoral system, and the changes New Democrats have been pushing for a very long time, so that … people are confident they can vote with their heart and their conscience."
The party has long pushed for electoral reform and a move away from first-past-the-post.
When Barton suggested the party may have been hurt by Singh not campaigning early on about health care and holding the government to account, Mathyssen disagreed, saying the party has been clear about its accomplishments.
"I don't think that we gave up on that or changed in terms of that throughout the campaign," she said. "It may have changed in terms of how we messaged a little bit, but those core values remain the same, and they will continue in that we put people at the centre of everything."
Party members have their work cut out for them in rebuilding lost support, but it's not the first time they've been in this position, said Sam Routley, a PhD candidate in political science at Western University.
The NDP's dismal performance in 1993, where it received fewer than one million votes, came with a loss of 35 seats and official party status. "They were really just not even part of the conversation throughout the 90s," Routley said.
Under Jack Layton, the party grew support through the 2000s, placing second in the 2011 election.
"Can they recreate that? I think the ball's sort of in the Liberal's court if perhaps they make a lot of mistakes that turn a lot of voters away from them … But it seems to me, at least for the next few elections like it's going to be Conservatives versus Liberals."
He says he's unsure whether the NDP's poor fortunes this time are part of a larger trend toward a two-party dynamic, or just how the cards were dealt.
In addition to finding a charismatic new leader, the party needs to differentiate themselves with a compelling agenda appealing to blue-collar workers and urban progressives — a needle other left-wing parties around the world have been trying to thread, Routley said.
"I think a lot of voters this time around were sort of looking at their options and thinking, 'what am I really going to get with the NDP that I don't get with the Liberals?"
cbc.ca
