Singh can’t stay on as leader if NDP loses official party status, Mulcair says

The Front Bench Panel discusses what the future could hold for the party leaders if they under-perform in the upcoming election.

Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says Jagmeet Singh cannot continue leading the party if the NDP loses official status in Parliament, as some polling suggests could happen.

When asked directly by CTV Power Play host Vassy Kapelos on Tuesday if Singh can remain at the helm in that scenario, Mulcair simply said, “No.”

“Mr. Singh knows what the results are going to be. I think he’s serene in his understanding of what it might mean for him, and I’m not getting any indication that he’s intent of fighting to stay on,” Mulcair said during a panel segment.

“I think that the party is going to go through a real difficult time if the result is the one that’s being predicted in the polls. The party will go through a difficult time especially if they do lose party status,” he added.

Before dissolution, the NDP held 24 seats in the House of Commons, but according to 338 Canada, which assembles polling data in the aggregate, the NDP would only win nine seats if an election were held on April 22. Twelve seats are needed to achieve official party status.

On Monday at a rally in B.C. – the province that is home to half of the NDP’s seats – Singh told voters to “hold the line,” and tried to articulate what’s at risk for the party in this election.

“British Columbians will decide what happens next – whether (Liberal Leader) Mark Carney gets a supermajority, or whether there are enough New Democrats in Parliament to hold the line,” Singh told the crowd in Port Moody.

Pressed on Tuesday morning to elaborate on what he meant by “hold the line,” and how confident he is that the NDP can return to Parliament with at least the same number of seats the party left with, Singh said he’s confident “Canadians have seen the difference that we’ve made.”

Asked if he’d resign if the party loses official status, Singh said: “I’m not looking to after the election.”

Some voters ‘not thrilled’ with Poilievre: Raitt

Also appearing on CTV Power Play on Tuesday, former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt acknowledged that voters she has been speaking with are “not thrilled” about Leader Pierre Poilievre.

“I have been out in Ontario. I’ve been out in Cape Breton as well. If I could sum it up in one kind of thought without hopefully ticking off all of my friends, what I am hearing from people who are not giving Conservatives their vote is that they like the Conservative policies, but they want Mark Carney to implement them,” Raitt said. “And I don’t know how you defend against that.”

Prior to former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation and U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Conservatives held a steady lead of 20 points or more over the Liberals in most polls for a year. But that lead has quickly evaporated in just a few weeks.

According to the latest Nanos Research survey, the Liberals lead the Conservatives with 43 per cent of ballot support compared to 37 per cent.

Earlier this month, leading Conservative campaign strategist Kory Teneycke took aim at the Conservative campaign, calling the party’s squandering of its lead in the polls “campaign malpractice.”

Asked by Kapelos if she thought the Conservatives would be in a better position if the party’s message around change had been stronger at the start of the campaign, Raitt said, “No, I don’t. I think we are where we are right now.”

“The reality is that we are exactly where we need to be right now. We’re talking about change. We’re pointing out the fact that the Liberals have been in power for 10 years, and they’re not really talking about that much change,” Raitt added.

With from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello