Calls for renewal of NDP not surprising, says former P.E.I. candidate

A call for party renewal following the Oct. 19 federal election is not surprising, says Joe Byrne, a P.E.I. member of the Federal Council of the New Democratic Party.

Comments made in an open letter Tuesday by a group of New Democrats in Quebec expressed widespread anger and despair among New Democrats and called on leader Tom Mulcair to resign.

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"The election was tough on a lot of people. We watched a lot of good MPs lose seats," said Byrne, who ran as the federal NDP candidate in Charlottetown.

"There is a lot of pain attached to that process. And that is going to cause some introspection."

The election saw the NDP lose 59 seats and fall to third place in the House of Commons.

A vote on whether there should be a leadership review will be held at the party's convention in Edmonton on April 9. Byrne will attend the convention with six others from P.E.I.

"What I like about it is that this is a discussion that the party should always not be afraid of having. We should always just be able to talk about who we are, why we are doing it."

It's too early to say if Mulcair's leadership will be in trouble, Byrne said. He believes the discussion on the floor of the convention will be different from what is being heard through the media.

He likes Mulcair, he added, but hasn't decided yet how he will vote on the question of whether to have a leadership review.