NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he stands by his decision not to vote non-confidence in the Liberal government and trigger an early election in late 2024 because doing so would have led to a majority Conservative government.
“While we could have won lots of seats, it would have meant a Pierre Poilievre majority Conservative government, and I could not stomach that,” Singh said in a recent interview with the Toronto Star.
Singh alleged a Conservative government would have “jeopardized progress” on pharmacare and dental care, which were two NDP priorities making their way through Parliament at that time. The creation of both programs was a result of the supply-and-confidence agreement forged between the minority Liberals and the NDP, which involved the party backing the government in key confidence votes in exchange for legislation sought by the NDP.
Singh ended that agreement in September 2024, saying his party would decide how to vote on future confidence motions on a case-by-case basis. The NDP then voted against three non-confidence motions brought forward by the Tories in the months following.
Singh said while he wants his party to win more seats in the upcoming April 28 election, choosing to delay the national vote was a decision made “for the interest of the country, ahead of my party.”
Data from polling aggregator 338 Canada suggests the NDP have just 9 percent support, compared to the Conservatives at 38 percent and Liberals at 42 percent. At the beginning of 2025, before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation, the NDP held 19 percent support compared to the Liberals’ 20 percent and the Conservatives’ 45 percent.
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The NDP is currently projected to obtain just seven seats in the next election, down from the 25 it received in 2021, meaning it would not meet the minimum 12-seat requirement to be considered an official party in Parliament. Singh is currently projected to lose his own seat in Burnaby-South.
The rapid turnaround in the polls for the Liberal Party was due in part to U.S. President Donald Trump placing tariffs on Canada and repeatedly calling for it to join the United States as its “51st state.” Singh said in the interview he could not have predicted that Trump would lead to the Liberals’ resurgence.
Singh said he does not believe Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre can form a government, saying the “math is just not there.” He also said he does not want Liberal Leader Mark Carney to have “all the power” and that his track record is “very problematic.”
Singh has pivoted in recent weeks from saying he is running to be the next prime minister, to focusing his messaging on the NDP holding the Liberals to account in Parliament. Singh reiterated in an April 25 social media post that Canadians can’t give Carney “all the power” or the Liberals will “ignore working people” and make cuts to health care and social services.
