NDP forced to remortgage HQ amid money troubles

Elections Canada returns show the party’s liabilities outweighed its assets by $3.1 million in 2017

Facing an ugly balance sheet and a drop in supporter donations, the New Democratic Party has remortgaged its national headquarters near Parliament Hill for $12 million.

Property records show the party inked the mortgage for the Jack Layton Building with the Bank of Montreal on Aug. 30. The mortgage included an “assignment of rents” agreement, a form of collateral that says revenue from tenants in the building at 279 Laurier Ave. W. in downtown Ottawa can go to the bank if the party can’t repay the loan.

The NDP bought the property for $3.5 million in 2004, the records show.

“The Jack Layton Building was purchased in whole as an asset for the NDP. Using an asset is common practice,” NDP national director Melissa Bruno told the Star in an emailed statement Monday.

“The NDP is focused on working hard to make life better for Canadians because we believe this is not as good as it gets and that we can do so much more, together.”

The decision to remortgage the party’s headquarters comes as the NDP gears up for the 2019 federal election. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is already on the campaign trail in British Columbia, where he is vying for a vacant seat in a coming byelection that could provide his entry to the House of Commons, more than 15 months after he took the helm of the federal party.

Singh has faced a series of challenges as leader, including financial returns that have plummeted since the NDP was the official opposition party under former leader Thomas Mulcair. After it raked in $18.6 million in donations in 2015—the year Justin Trudeau’s Liberals won power—the NDP garnered just $4.9 million from supporters in 2017 and $3.1 million in the first nine months of last year, according to financial returns filed with Elections Canada.

The party’s annual balance sheet has also dipped into the red. Elections Canada returns show the NDP’s liabilities outstripped its assets by $3.1 million in 2017. One year earlier, the party was $1.7 million in the hole, according to its returns.

The paltry finances prompted Singh to forgo a salary from the party as he used his time without a seat in Parliament to travel the country and hold a series of introductory events dubbed “JagMeet and Greets.”

In his push to win the byelection in Burnaby South, Singh is calling for immediate federal spending to build affordable housing. He is also attacking the Liberal government for its $4.5-billion purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline, arguing public funds are better spent on green technology and clean energy, and says Ottawa needs to implement universal pharmacare instead of continuing its ongoing study of the proposal.

Singh will face voters in the Burnaby South byelection on Feb. 25.

He has faced a series of hurdles since taking over as NDP leader in October 2017. His stance against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has sparked ridicule from Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, a partisan compatriot in the NDP. He also provoked the disapproval of the NDP’s Saskatchewan wing, which publicly denounced his decision to boot MP Erin Weir from the party caucus after allegations of sexual harassment against Weir were sustained by a third-party investigation.

Meanwhile, eight NDP MPs have either stepped down or announced they won’t run in the 2019 election. Those includes stalwarts like Mulcair, Quebec MPs Romeo Saganash and Hélène Laverdière, Hamilton MP David Christopherson, and Linda Duncan, the NDP’s sole MP from Alberta.

Others have announced a return to politics. Former MP Andrew Cash will try to reclaim his seat in the Toronto riding of Davenport.