OTTAWA –
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is traveling across Atlantic Canada to draw attention to affordability issues – and flip two Liberal seats in the next federal election.
Singh said voters, increasingly struggling with the cost of living, are unhappy with the federal government as he sells his party as the true steward of Canada’s working class.
The NDP, through its Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Liberals, has been pushing for affordability initiatives including dental care, a one-time rent surcharge and doubling the GST rebate.
Singh considers them all victories.
“We are making a real difference, but just pushing the government forward is not enough for me,” Singh told reporters in St. John’s, NL on Tuesday.
“I want to be the one calling the shots and making sure decisions are made in the interests of working people.”
The party wants to swap St. John’s East in Newfoundland, a seat that used to be an NDP stronghold, and Halifax, a seat that often alternates between the Liberals and the New Democrats.
That history makes it the easiest for the NDP to retake those seats, argued Lori Turnbull, associate professor of political science at Dalhousie University.
A third constituency, St. John’s South-Mount Pearl, is also known to vote for the New Democrats. But Turnbull said Labor Secretary Seamus O’Regan is unlikely to be impeached any time soon.
Although the Atlantic region is a Liberal stronghold, frustration is growing over the cost of living, the housing crisis and an aging population struggling to make ends meet on steady incomes, Turnbull said.
“The problem for the Liberals is that they are the incumbent. And the easiest thing for people to say is, ‘Why don’t you do more for us?'” Turnbull said.
Both Singh and Poilievre have capitalized on that sentiment by touring the region during the summer and trying to suggest ideas on how to make people’s lives more affordable.
At a rally in Nova Scotia last month, Poilievre said the needs of people in the area “often get lost in Ottawa.”
Poilievre has also targeted the Liberal government’s clean fuel regulations while in the region, which are expected to result in a six to 13 percent increase in the price of petrol by 2030.
The energy authorities of two Atlantic provinces, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, have now decided to pass the costs on to consumers at different rates, and Poilievre blames Ottawa for these additional costs.
Last month, the Council of Atlantic Premiers launched a campaign urging the federal government to reconsider the regulations, a view Poilievre shares.
But during Singh’s own trip to Atlantic Canada this week, he reminded people of another conservative campaign.
Former progressive Conservative Prime Minister of Newfoundland and Labrador Danny Williams launched a sustained offensive against the federal Tories during the 2015 federal election campaign, imploring Conservative voters not to support them. His campaign was known as “ABC” – “Anything But Conservative”.
Turnbull said Harper would use derogatory language to refer to the Atlantic regions, such as describing them as landless provinces that were economically depressed and exhibited a culture of defeat.
“People just didn’t like Stephen Harper. He went around like a lead balloon,” she said.
Melanie Richer, a former communications director for the state’s New Democrats, said a challenge for the NDP in the coming months will be reminding people of Harper’s conservatism and the fact that Poilievre served in his cabinet.
She said Singh needed to “exploit people’s distrust of the Tories” and show what the NDP was able to achieve through their trust and delivery agreement.
“It’s an opportunity to say, ‘I have a small seat at the table right now to get the government to do more. Can you imagine what else we could do if I got that spot myself?’” Richer said.
With the New Democrats and Conservatives arguing that the Liberals aren’t currently meeting, every seat will likely count in the next federal election, Turnbull said.
“Winning every seat in parts of the country that don’t necessarily have a lot of votes or seats is crucial,” she said.
“There is an overwhelming sense of dynamism for no party in this country.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 1, 2023.