(Ottawa) The agreement with the Liberals is not to the advantage of the New Democratic Party, according to a long-time activist. Barry Weisleder invites convention delegates to call for a leadership contest. Leader Jagmeet Singh faces a confidence vote on Saturday.
“I think it was a bad idea from the start,” says the man who chairs the NDP socialist caucus and who has been active within the party for 55 years.
“Not everyone agrees with me, but we can now make a definitive assessment: it is a failure,” he adds.
Jagmeet Singh is scheduled to deliver a speech Saturday morning before facing his third confidence vote since being elected NDP leader in 2017. Members must indicate whether they want to hold a leadership contest at each convention under the party statutes. He obtained 91% in 2018 and 87% in 2021.
The agreement allows the minority Liberals to govern as if they were the majority thanks to the support of the NDP. Deputy leader Alexandre Boulerice tried to convince delegates on Saturday that the New Democrats had thus succeeded in using their balance of power.
“For the first time, we managed to introduce 10 sick days for workers,” he recalled. He also mentioned the dental insurance program as well as the upcoming drug insurance program and the upcoming anti-scab legislation.
“They need to be tougher on the government, but even better end this pact and say ‘we’re going to support the bills one by one if it’s in the interest of the working class’,” argues Barry Weisleder.
He especially disagrees with the NDP’s support for federal budgets, particularly that of 2022 which provided for 8 billion in new spending for National Defense after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
“We need air tankers, not fighter planes,” he summarizes, referring to the forest fires that affected many communities across the country during the summer.
Delegates rejected the idea Saturday of making the agreement between the NDP and the Liberal Party conditional on the tabling of an anti-scab bill within three months. They are expected to vote in the afternoon on an emergency resolution to tear up the agreement if the Liberals’ drug insurance bill does not provide for the creation of a “universal, comprehensive” program. and entirely public.
She is supported by 28 constituency association presidents. It has been prioritized and therefore should be debated first during the 30 minutes devoted to emergency resolutions late Saturday afternoon. At least two other resolutions concern the war between Israel and Hamas and call on the NDP to condemn war crimes on both sides.
Only 952 delegates were present on Saturday, unlike the 1,200 people who had registered, according to party data.