NDP upbeat as eyes turn to 2019

Federal New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh emerged from his party’s national convention with a strong mandate to overcome the many challenges ahead for the NDP to beat the Liberals at their own game and deliver in 2019.

The three-day convention, which wrapped up Sunday, was Singh’s first since he was elected NDP leader in October, and a key opportunity for him to inject momentum into his party as it starts looking toward next year’s election.

Memories of the NDP’s disappointing showing in the 2015 campaign — and the discord that plagued the party’s last convention in 2016 — were still fresh in the minds of many delegates. Meanwhile, the party remains stalled in the polls and failed to gain much ground in several recent byelections.

But following a rousing speech on Saturday, in which Singh railed against inequality by defending taxes and big government while taking aim at foreign web giants, the “ultra-rich” and the Trudeau government, the party was clearly behind him. More than 90 per cent of delegates voted against choosing a new leader.

New party president Mathieu Vick was frank about the challenges facing New Democrats, including the need to raise more money and mobilize the party’s membership, which is in the midst of a major transformation from its union and socialist roots.

He believed the path that Singh began to chart at the convention was the right place to start.

“That’s one of the lessons that we learned in 2015: That cautious change is maybe not the right message for the NDP. We do need bold, transformative changes,” he said.