Singh rallies supporters in B.C.
I’m one of the Parliamentary bureau reporters travelling with the NDP this week.
Last night, the New Democrats held their first campaign rally in Port Moody-Coquitlam. This Metro Vancouver seat has turned into a three-way race with the Conservatives and Liberals in the past, and incumbent Bonita Zarrillo won the riding for the NDP by six per cent over the Conservative candidate in 2021.
“In this election, British Columbians will decide what happens next — whether Mark Carney gets a super majority, or whether there are enough New Democrats in Parliament to hold the line,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told the crowd of close to 400 supporters.
Winning ridings in BC is key to this party’s survival; half of all the NDP’s 24 current seats are in this province.
Former Vancouver East NDP MP Libby Davies also showed up to rally support. She asked the audience to “remember 1993,” when the NDP lost official party status and she said the Liberals moved their policies to the right.
“We were not there to fight back. We were there, but we didn’t have party status, and so this is a really important thing that we have to remind people as we’re out there voting in this last week,” she said.
The CBC Poll Tracker has the NDP at just over eight per cent in the polls — with the seat projection showing it could be on track to lose official party status, which requires at least 12 MPs in the House of Commons.
