New Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Canada. It is formally linked with the Canadian labor movement. The NDP supports strong social welfare policies, greater social rights, a more equal distribution of wealth, publicly funded universal health care, and limits on foreign ownership in Canada. It has never formed a national government, but it has often played a key role in minority Parliaments. The NDP has had greater success at the provincial level. At times, it has controlled the governments of a number of Canada’s provinces and territories.
The NDP traces its beginnings to the birth of another political party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The CCF was founded in 1932, during the Great Depression. It favored a greater role for government in economic planning, public health services, and public ownership of key industries.
In 1961, the CCF formed an alliance with unions in the Canadian Labour Congress and established the NDP. Saskatchewan Premier T. C. (Tommy) Douglas became the NDP’s first leader. Under Douglas, the New Democrats did not achieve the national success they had expected, and they often placed third in federal elections. Until the early 2000’s, the party never gained much support in Quebec or easternmost Canada.
The NDP at times has had significant influence in federal politics. From 1972 to 1974, the Liberal Party under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau lacked a majority in Parliament. The Liberals relied on the support of the NDP, then led by labor lawyer David Lewis. The NDP’s influence on the balance of power resulted in improvements in social programs. It also led to major reforms and the democratization of election financing, as well as the creation of the Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA; later Investment Canada) to oversee foreign investment in Canada. In the 1980’s, under Ed Broadbent, the NDP made its greatest electoral gains up to that time. The party suffered major losses under Audrey McLaughlin in the 1993 federal election. Alexa McDonough led the NDP to a partial recovery in 1997 and 2000.
From 2004 to 2011, under the leadership of Jack Layton , the NDP steadily increased its seats in Parliament. In 2011, the NDP won the second most seats in the House of Commons and became the official opposition for the first time. In 2012, Tom Mulcair was elected leader of the New Democrats. The party remained the official opposition until 2015, when it placed third in a general election. In 2017, the party chose Jagmeet Singh , then a member of Ontario’s Legislative Assembly, as its new leader.
