Challenges ahead for NDP’s Jagmeet Singh after rousing party convention
OTTAWA — 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.