NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, right, reacts with federal candidate Nima Machouf, left, as he attends a campaign event in Montreal on March 24, 2025.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Jagmeet Singh hopes the New Democrats will see electoral gains in Quebec, a battleground integral to the party’s past success, while it fights for relevance in a campaign upended by tariffs and the influence of U.S. President Donald Trump.
At a campaign stop Monday in Montreal, Mr. Singh promised that an NDP government would unlock public land to build rent-controlled homes. He said it would use suitable federal Crown land to build more than 100,000 rent-controlled homes in the next decade.
In addition, Mr. Singh promised $1-billion over five years to acquire more public land for construction. The announcement was held outdoors in front of undeveloped public land.
The NDP is facing considerable electoral hurdles across the country and public-opinion polls show it is struggling, including in Quebec. Some political observers believe that, based on current levels of support, it could be difficult for the NDP to maintain official party status in the House of Commons, which requires at least 12 seats.
It’s a far cry from what was called the “orange wave” under former NDP leader Jack Layton. In 2011, Mr. Layton and the New Democrats saw a historic breakthrough in Quebec, capturing 59 out of 75 available seats from the province in the House of Commons. That was fundamental to the federal NDP achieving official opposition status for the first and only time in history.
“Jack Layton’s dream was New Democrats are not just the conscience of Parliament but we actually form government to make people’s lives better,” Mr. Singh said. “To continue that dream, we have to win seats in Quebec. We have to win seats in Montreal.”
After Mr. Layton’s death, Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair was named NDP leader. But after disappointing 2015 election results, Mr. Mulcair was voted out of his leadership role by party supporters, and the race that ensued saw Mr. Singh named leader in 2017.
This is Mr. Singh’s third campaign, and his team struggled in Quebec in 2019 and 2021. Currently, the party has one seat in the province, which is held by Alexandre Boulerice in the riding of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.
Mr. Boulerice said Monday he is confident that New Democrats will be able to garner more support, adding that the party pushed to see pharmacare and dental-care coverage for Quebeckers. In the previous Parliament, the NDP kept the governing Liberals in power through a co-operative arrangement, known as the supply-and-confidence agreement.
Beginning in March, 2022, the New Democrats offered their support to the Liberals in the Commons in exchange for movement in key priority areas. Mr. Singh walked away from that agreement with the Liberals last September.
Craig Sauvé is hoping to be among MPs elected in the province. He is running in the riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun.
Mr. Sauvé placed third in a by-election this past September, with the Bloc Québécois’s Louis-Philippe Sauvé winning the race. The by-election was sparked by the political departure of David Lametti, a former Liberal cabinet minister who resigned as an MP in early 2024.
Nik Nanos, the founder and chief data scientist of Nanos Research, told The Globe and Mail on Monday that polling conducted by his firm pegs support for the New Democrats at nine per cent in Quebec. He said the party is fighting for relevancy while the country is focused on responding to Mr. Trump and tariffs and while Canadians debate who is best positioned to manage that relationship.
Despite current polls, Mr. Boulerice said Monday that he is confident there will be a large number of Quebec NDP MPs after the April 28 vote. “Elections matter; campaigns matter,” he said.
Mélanie Richer, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategies and former NDP communications director, agrees. She said there is a “massive opportunity” to reach out to Quebeckers in this election. The party can go and “get voters who have been standing with what they know while they wait for something better,” Ms. Richer said.