New Democratic Party

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

**New Democratic Party**
File:CA NDP 2004 Logo.png
Current Leader:	Jack Layton
Founded:	June 17, 1961
Headquarters:	300 - 279 Laurier Avenue West Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J9
Colours:	Orange
Political ideology:	democratic socialist/social democrat

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is a federal and provincial political party in Canada. It is a democratic socialist and social democratic party and is the furthest left of Canada's mainstream parties. It is noted for its socialist roots and its connection with organized labour; a significant proportion of its membership consists of associate members who belong to the party by their membership in affiliated trade unions. The federal leader of the NDP is Jack Layton, a former Toronto City Councillor.

The Party has never governed Canada, but has wielded considerable influence during times of federal minority governments and has governed several provinces and a territory. It currently governs the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, forms the Official Opposition in Nova Scotia and Yukon, and is the only opposition party in the legislature of British Columbia. The party has sitting members in every provincial legislature except those of Québec and Prince Edward Island. In previous terms, it has formed government 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.

History

File:Thomasclementdouglas.jpg Tommy Douglas	File:Edbroadbent.jpg Ed Broadbent
File:442.jpg Alexa McDonough	File:Jacklaytonsmall.jpg Jack Layton

The NDP was created in 1961 by 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. The importance of labour to 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, the NDP supported the minority government formed by Pierre Trudeau's Liberals from 1972 to 1974, although they 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.

The NDP played a critical role during Joe Clark's minority government of 1979-1980, moving the non-confidence motion on John Crosbie's budget that brought down the Progressive Conservative government and forced the election that brought Pierre Trudeau back to power.

In number of seats, the NDP reached its apogee with 44 MPs under Ed Broadbent in the election of 1988. The Conservatives, however, had a solid majority. Broadbent stepped down after 15 years as federal leader of the NDP in 1989, although he has recently returned from retirement to run for Parliament in the riding of Ottawa-Centre, where he lives. This return is quite celebrated by the membership of the party.

Under the leadership of Audrey McLaughlin -- the first woman to be leader of a national political party in Parliament -- and Alexa McDonough, the party underwent a decline. Pundits also believe the unpopularity of the NDP government in Ontario affected the federal party's fortunes. It briefly lost official party status in the Commons due to a lack of MPs after the 1993 election, when it won only 9 seats (12 are required by the rules of the House of Commons). This status was regained in the 1997 general election, when 21 New Democrats were elected.

The party embarked in a renewal process starting in 2000. A very active general convention in Winnipeg in November 2001 made significant alterations to certain party structures and reaffirmed its commitment to the left. This bore fruit in the May 2002 by-elections when Brian Masse won a formerly safe Liberal seat in the riding of Windsor West in Windsor, Ontario.

Alexa McDonough announced her resignation as party leader for family reasons in June 2002, and was succeeded by Jack Layton. He was elected at the party's convention in Toronto on January 25, 2003, defeating his nearest rival, longtime MP Bill Blaikie, on the first ballot with 53.5% of the vote. Because Layton currently does not have a seat in the House of Commons, he has appointed Blaikie to fill that role on the floor of the House for the immediate future. In addition, a younger French Canadian candidate, Pierre Ducasse, gave such a stirring speech at the convention that it is hoped that he could be critical in gaining votes in Quebec where the party is typically weak.

Recent polls show the NDP in 3rd place, behind the Conservative Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada. The NDP expects to make significant gains in the next election, set for June 28 2004. The party hopes to win new seats in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Northern Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and potentially elsewhere. Due to a fall in Liberal party support, the NDP may hold the balance of power if the Liberals form a minority government.

The most successful 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. Tommy Douglas is often referred to as the Father of Medicare since Saskatchewan was the first province to bring in publicly-funded, universal healthcare.

For information about the 2004 election including a list of nominated candidates see: Canadian federal election, 2004

Provincial structure

Unlike other federal parties, the NDP is integrated with its provincial and territorial party, such that a member of the federal party is a member of the provincial or territorial party where he or she resides.

There are three exceptions. In Quebec, the provincial NDP was expelled from the party in the early 1990s when it voted to call for Quebec independence. After its expulsion the former Quebec NDP renamed itself the Parti de la Democratie Socialiste or PDS.

Today, the NDP has an activist wing in Quebec (the Nouveau parti démocratique - Section Québec) which promotes the party's agenda in the province and works on federal elections there. On the provincial level in Quebec, many supporters of the federal NDP participate in the Union des forces progressistes (UFP) and some are active in the Parti libéral du Québec.

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

Provincial and territorial parties

The provincial and territorial sections of the NDP, and their leaders, are:

Current members of Parliament

As of February 2003, the NDP holds 14 seats in the House of Commons:

Bill Blaikie, parliamentary leader
Winnipeg-Transcona (MB)

Joe Comartin
Windsor-St. Clair (ON)

Libby Davies
Vancouver East (BC)

Bev Desjarlais
Churchill (MB)

Yvon Godin
Acadie-Bathurst (NB)

Wendy Lill
Dartmouth (NS)

Pat Martin
Winnipeg-Centre (MB)

Brian Masse
Windsor West (ON)

Alexa McDonough
Halifax (NS)

Lorne Nystrom
Regina-Qu'Appelle (SK)

Dick Proctor
Palliser (SK)

Svend Robinson
Burnaby-Douglas (BC)

Peter Stoffer
Sackville-Musquodoboit Valley-Eastern Shore (NS)

Judy Wascylycia-Leis
Winnipeg North Centre (MB)

Federal leaders

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

J.S. Woodsworth (August 1, 1932 - March 21, 1942)
M.J. Coldwell (March 22, 1942 - August 10, 1960)
Hazen Argue (August 11, 1960 - August 2, 1961)