NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh defends leadership after party makes minimal gains

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he feels secure in his leadership despite having picked up only a handful of seats in the election.

New Democrats had high hopes heading into Monday’s vote that a breakthrough might be coming thanks to greater voter recognition of Singh, more money to spend on the campaign, and a sense the Liberals under Justin Trudeau were vulnerable.

But with final results still to come due to Elections Canada still having to count thousands of mail-in ballots, it appeared the NDP was on track to win between just one and three new seats.

At a news conference in Vancouver today, Singh expressed disappointment that more NDP candidates were not successful on Monday, but insisted he had not hit his ceiling as leader.

The NDP has enough seats to hold the balance of power in the House of Commons, as was the case in the last parliamentary session when it propped up the minority Liberal government on several occasions while pushing more progressive policies.

Singh says his party would continue to adopt such a strategy to fight for Canadians, but sidestepped questions on if and how the party will shake things up after Monday’s result.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2021.

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