Jagmeet Singh addresses supporters at the NDP campaign headquarters on election night, in Burnaby, B.C., on April 28.Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
Jagmeet Singh announced Monday night he will step down as NDP Leader after a disappointing result that saw a major decline in the party’s seat count.
He said he will resign as soon as an interim leader can be named after he failed to win his seat in the Burnaby Central riding.
Mr. Singh choked up several times as he thanked his family, his caucus and his staff.
“Almost eight years ago I was elected the leader of this incredible party, this incredible movement. I worked really hard to be worthy of this trust, to live up to the legacy of our movement,” he said. “I’ll be stepping down as leader.”
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The New Democratic Party was poised to return to Ottawa with a much smaller team. Earlier in the night, NDP national director Anne McGrath said she was still hopeful the party would outperform polling predictions.
As of early Tuesday morning, the NDP had won in seven ridings, a disappointing result after winning 25 seats in the 2021 election. The party needs 12 seats to maintain official party status.
The party had garnered just more than 5 per cent of the popular vote nationally, a sharp decline from the 17.8-per-cent share of the national vote it received in 2021.
“Obviously I’m disappointed that we could not win more seats, but I’m not disappointed in our movement. I’m hopeful for our party,” Mr. Singh told supporters.
Ms. McGrath said the NDP losses will trigger an internal review, but she maintained Mr. Singh ran an inspiring campaign. “The dynamic of this campaign set up a very polarized electorate around two parties, and that was a real challenge for us.”
By late Monday evening, the NDP were trailing in several ridings that had been long-held safe seats, including Windsor West, London-Fanshawe, Hamilton Centre and Kapuskasing-Timmins-Mushkegowuk in Ontario. In three of those ridings, results early Tuesday morning showed Conservative victories, with Hamilton Centre going to the Liberals.
Similarly, as of early Tuesday, the Conservatives had taken Elmwood-Transcona in Winnipeg from the NDP as well as the riding of Edmonton-Griesbach.
Mr. Singh did not mention his Conservative rival, Pierre Poilievre, in his remarks, but he did congratulate Liberal Leader Mark Carney on his victory. “He has an important job to do, to represent all Canadians, and to protect our country and its sovereignty.” He vowed that New Democrats would support that effort. “We’re all on Team Canada.”
Throughout the campaign, the New Democrats battled a narrative created by consistent opinion polls that suggested their support had collapsed. The Conservative and Liberal campaigns circled eagerly around NDP-held ridings, hoping to pick up seats from a party thought to be dead in the water.
In a campaign that focused on threats to Canada from U.S. President Donald Trump and concerns about the cost of living, Mr. Singh seemed relegated to a minor role in a debate between Mr. Carney and Mr. Poilievre.
Early in the campaign, the NDP pivoted from a message that they could form a government, to one that called on voters to support New Democrat candidates in order to keep a Liberal government in check.
The end of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's speech is seen on a teleprompter after he announced he would step down as party leader.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The NDP Leader appealed to B.C. voters in particular – a province that dealt his party almost half its seat count in the 2021 election: “You can make the difference between Mark Carney getting a super majority or sending enough New Democrats to Ottawa so we can fight to defend the things you care about,” he said in the final week of the campaign.
Ms. McGrath acknowledged that the party lost some of its traditional support to the Liberal camp. “Those progressive voters who voted Liberals, those are borrowed votes. They didn’t do it with joy, they voted because they felt they had no choice.” Once the election is over, she predicted, “those votes are coming home.”
University of Victoria political scientist Justin Leifso said the NDP were at a disadvantage from the start.
“I think that a lot of people who typically vote New Democrat were not thrilled with the prospect of voting for an investment banker whose economic promises are not consistent with New Democrat priorities,” he said, referring to Mr. Carney.
Mr. Singh, 46, led the NDP for more than seven years, and was given a difficult task to halt the party’s declining support among Canadian voters. The party peaked in popularity in the 2011 election under leader Jack Layton, who secured official opposition status in 2011 with 103 seats, and 30.63 per cent of the popular vote.
But the New Democrats under Mr. Singh were as close to government as the party has ever been. The NDP signed a supply and confidence agreement in 2022 to prop up the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau. The New Democrats say that deal allowed them to deliver free dental care for millions of Canadians and pharmacare legislation, which together represent the largest expansion of free Canadian health care in generations.
Mr. Singh tore that agreement up in September, saying “the Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people.” However, the New Democrats did not use their votes to help the Conservatives to bring down the government.