After NDP breaks pact with Liberals, party president says N.L. will face a choice in election
Pundit says NDP is positioning to be prime alternative to Conservatives
Whenever a federal election is called, voters in Newfoundland and Labrador should cast their ballot for the NDP for change, says the party's president — who also happens to be a candidate with a Liberal incumbent in her sights.
"This will be a 'change election' — no doubt about it. The Liberals are not in a position, quite frankly, to be that change," said Mary Shortall, echoing comments that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh made Wednesday when he pulled the plug on supporting Justin Trudeau's minority government.
"People will ask questions — obviously of the candidates that are running for the election — to see who best is going to meet the solutions that they need to get themselves out of this crisis that we find ourselves in," said Shortall.
Shortall will be one of those candidates — in St. John's East, a former NDP stronghold that is currently held by Liberal backbencher Joanne Thompson — in the next election, which could be called at any time, but which is expected by October 2025.
Singh upset national politics by announcing he was done with the NDP's supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals.
Shortall cast the NDP as a party that puts people first and has not caved to corporate interests, unlike the Liberals and Conservatives.
"We do not need or want further cuts," she said.
Shortall said Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has indicated he will cut programs like pharmacare, dental and employment insurance. The NDP has been hearing from people who are struggling to make ends meet and are feeling let down by the current government, said Shortall.
"Both Liberals and Conservatives have been beholden to corporations for a long time," she said.
She said there wasn't a single issue that led Singh to end the agreement but a realization there are fundamental differences between the Liberals and NDP, though she said she's proud of what the agreement accomplished in its tenure, like movement on pharamacare and dental care.
Without the agreement, Shortall said the situation in Ottawa will be like a usual minority government
"The opposition parties — including the party with the balance of power — has an obligation to hold the government's feet to the fire, and they'll continue to do that."
'They smell blood in the water'
Alex Marland, who teaches political science at Acadia University, said people didn't expect the supply-and-confidence agreement to last indefinitely but some thought it would last longer.
"It was a shock. I'm still processing it all because it definitely changes things in Canadian politics for the foreseeable future," said Marland, a former Memorial University political scientist.
He isn't sure why the agreement ended now, but added that the NDP wasn't happy with how the Liberal party "'caved to corporate interests'" during a recent rail strike — where a federal board ordered striking workers back to the job and imposed binding arbitration.
The Conservatives were also pressuring the NDP by tying the Liberals and NDP together, added Marland.
Last week, Poilievre called on Singh to end the supply-and-confidence agreement, calling him 'Sellout Singh.'
"Overall, I think what they do is they smell blood in the water — with a prime minister who is down in the polls, this is yet one more reason why it's going to be hard for him to govern," Marland said.
With the Liberals down in the polls, the Conservatives and NDP are changing their strategies, he added. "So now it's almost becoming a battle between the NDP and the Conservatives."
Marland doubts that Singh will be able to form a government but said the NDP message is about aligning the Conservatives and Liberals.
Marland said Singh's move poses more problems for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following announcements from some Liberal MPs — including St. John's South-Mount Pearl MP Seamus O'Regan, a former cabinet minister — who said they will not run in the next election.
"It makes it very, very hard to be a strong leader in the face of this type of circumstance," said Marland.
He added people can expect an "intense period" as people look ahead to when an election might be called.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from The St. John’s Morning Show and On the Go
