The NDP is sinking like a stone heading into the federal election. Support for the party has collapsed to its lowest level in decades, hovering around seven per cent.
To understand why this is happening, all one has to do is ask: why would anyone vote for the NDP?
The NDP has spent years propping up the hated Trudeau government and made themselves indistinguishable in the process.
We see this reproducing itself with the trade war. The NDP is barely distinguishable from the Conservatives or the Liberals, rallying behind the Canadian capitalists—supporting counter-tariffs and “buy Canadian” policies. Singh has even adopted Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s hypocritical slogan, “Canada is not for sale”.
Or look at foreign policy. Singh has fallen in line supporting Trump’s demand to increase military spending to two per cent of GDP. He only demands that the F-35s be “made in Canada.”
The result is that in the eyes of millions, the NDP is seen as a pale copy of the Liberal Party. And faced with the threat of Donald Trump, the rise of Mark Carney has unsurprisingly eaten into the NDP’s traditional base of support. Given a choice between Liberals and imitation Liberals, voters will choose the genuine article every time.
Meanwhile, many workers who are looking for change are turning to the Conservatives!
In fact, the Conservatives are the most popular party among young voters and trade unionists, who have traditionally favoured the NDP. This is not the result of a “shift to the right”, but because Poilievre has successfully channeled popular rage against the establishment and worsening living standards under Trudeau, railing against the “lost Liberal decade”. Those seeking an alternative to the status quo identify the NDP with that same hated establishment.
At one point, long ago, the NDP were seen by workers as standing for something. The “Orange Wave” of 2011, the first time the NDP won enough votes to become the official Opposition, came as a result of voters looking for an alternative to the Conservatives and Liberals. Since then, all the NDP has done is demonstrate how desperate they are to be part of the establishment.
The collapse of the NDP illustrates the dead end of reformism. By defending the capitalist system when it is facing the greatest crisis in its history, they forfeit all credibility among workers and strengthen the traditional capitalist parties.
