An emotional Singh steps down with NDP set to lose party status
New Democrats entered the race with 24 MPs but may only leave with 7
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh struggled to keep his emotions in check late Monday night as he took the stage at his campaign headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., to deliver the bad news: his fight is over.
Singh was not only poised to finish third in his own riding, according to preliminary results, but his party was on track to lose more than two-thirds of its seats. The New Democrats will lose official party status in the House of Commons, falling short of the 12-member minimum.
Singh thanked his wife, Gurkiran Kaur — who shared the stage with him — his staff, party volunteers and he then said he would be stepping down as soon as an interim leader could be appointed.
"Its been the honour of my life to represent the people of Burnaby Central," he said. "Tonight they chose a new member of Parliament and I wish them well."
Singh first won his seat in Burnaby South in a byelection in 2019 and was re-elected twice before the riding was redistributed to Burnaby Central. That new name did not bring with it any luck, and as the results started rolling in, it became clear the NDP was in for a rough evening.
Alexandre Boulerice is projected to hang on to his party's only seat in Quebec after the New Democrats failed to win a single riding in Atlantic Canada.
In Ontario, the party is on track to lose all five of its seats, including Windsor West, where Brian Masse represented constituents since 2002.
Moving west, the NDP is projected to win only one of the three seats it held in Manitoba, returning Leah Gazan to represent Winnipeg Centre. The one bit of good news: Lori Idlout was still leading in Nunavut in the early hours Tuesday.
But Niki Ashton was on her way to losing Churchill-Keewatinook Aski to the Liberals — a seat she'd held since 2008 — while Leila Dance in Elmwood-Transcona was trailing to the Conservatives.
Alberta to B.C.
The party was projected to keep Heather McPherson's seat in Edmonton Strathcona early Tuesday, but in B.C. where the party's largest cohort of MPs were based, the picture was grim.
Not only was Singh in third place with most of the votes counted, but the party was only leading in three ridings: Vancouver East — where Jenny Kwan was projected to keep her seat — and Vancouver Kingsway and Courtenay-Alberni.
"Obviously I know tonight is a disappointing night for New Democrats," Singh said in his concession speech. "We had really good candidates that lost tonight. I know how hard you worked. I spent time with you. You're amazing. I am so sorry you are not going to be able to represent your communities."
Singh said he will remain on "Team Canada," doing what he could to support the opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump, just not as an elected official.
"I want to take a moment to congratulate Prime Minister Carney on his victory. He has an important job to do to represent all Canadians and to protect our country and its sovereignty from the threats of Donald Trump," Singh said.
NDP in single digits throughout race
In early January, the CBC Poll Tracker had the NDP at 19 per cent and the Liberals at 21 per cent. But by the time the election kicked off on March 23, that NDP support had dropped by half.
Still, Singh started the campaign with the bold pitch to Canadians that he was running to be Canada's next prime minister.
But days later, Singh admitted that his party was facing "massive challenges" with voters looking elsewhere for a champion to battle U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I've got no illusions about that. There's some serious challenges that we're up against," he said in Toronto on March 26.
Singh's uphill battle was not helped by former NDP leader Tom Mulcair penning a column for CTV that said the New Democrats were going nowhere in a two-way race between the Conservatives and the Liberals.
"If you can't seriously say you're going to form a government that can take on Trump, then get out of the way and let the only real contenders have at it," Mulcair wrote.
By the third week of the campaign, Singh dropped the optimistic messaging about forming government from his news conferences.
Supply-and-confidence deal
The party tried to challenge Mulcair's criticisms by promoting Singh's achievements. They reminded voters that as a parliamentary partner with the Liberal minority government, they created national pharmacare and dental care programs and banned replacement workers during strike actions.
The supply-and-confidence agreement struck between the two parties in March 2022 committed the NDP to supporting the Liberal government on confidence votes in exchange for legislative commitments on NDP priorities. The deal was scheduled to run until June 2025.
When Singh tore up that agreement in early September, but did not bring down the Liberal government, he was the subject of an onslaught of negative Conservative ads.
The Conservatives said the NDP wasn't backing a non-confidence vote because Singh wanted to qualify for his MP pension (Poilievre's is three times larger) before Canadians go to the polls.
In late April, Singh told the Toronto Star that he stood by his decision not to take the Liberal government down in the fall when his party was hovering just below 20 per cent support.
"While we could have won lots of seats, it would have meant a Pierre Poilievre majority Conservative government, and I could not stomach that," Singh said.
'We're gonna do great work for you'
Aware that winning "lots of seats" had become highly unlikely, Singh modified his message. He started asking voters in the second half of the campaign to instead give his party enough seats in Parliament to keep the government in check, and maybe even push more progressive policy initiatives through the House.
"If you elect enough of us, elect more of us, we're gonna do great work for you," Singh said in Winnipeg on April 6.
Despite the polls showing the NDP in a distant third, Singh remained optimistic that his modified pitch was landing and that he could bring people into the orange tent by highlighting his achievements.
At a campaign stop in Toronto on Friday, Singh was asked how he is remaining positive in light of what was likely coming down the pipe for his party on election day.
Reflecting on the challenges of his childhood: his father's addiction, losing the family home and being compelled to step in to parent his younger teenage brother, Singh provoked enthusiastic and sustained applause from supporters gathered in the room with his answer.
"In all those struggles I found that you can either laugh or cry in those tough times, and I always choose that you gotta have joy in the struggle. I really believe in joy in the struggle," he said.
Singh then pivoted to praising his staff, party volunteers and fellow caucus members, saying it's hard not to be joyful when you are surrounded by "incredible people, fighting for such a great reason."
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