The government house leader Steven Mackinnon has announced that Mark Carney’s Liberal government will not grant the NDP party status for this session of Parliament.
This news comes after past reports that party officials would still push for NDP party status despite falling well short of the 12 seats needed to automatically qualify, winning only 7 after the election’s results have been certified.
The NDP, which fell from 25 seats won in the 2021 Federal Election to only 7 seats in the election that took place last month, is now put in a particularly dire spot regarding where they go from here: falling short of popular vote thresholds means they will not have much money to operate with, and losing party status means that they will have little to no influence in Parliament during this rebuilding phase for the party.
This comes after reports that NDP interim leader Don Davies spoke with the Liberal government about the NDP still receiving party status in spite of their electoral shortcomings.
What Privileges are Lost With no NDP Party Status?
Without official party status, the NDP loses the ability to do a few things in Parliament that they were previously able to do. Most importantly for the NDP, losing party status means that they will no longer be allowed to ask questions during Question Period, where federal opposition parties are allowed to scrutinize the sitting government. Furthermore, the NDP is set to lose funding for Party Research Offices. Going forward, the only opposition parties that will hold onto official party status are the Conservatives and the Bloc.
Notably, as has been discussed by Twitter, without party status, the NDP do not receive the privilege of all sitting next to each other in Parliament. With the release of the seating plan, it was observed that MPs Gord Johns and Jenny Kwan would be sitting opposite to the other 5 NDP MPs.
With all of this in mind, it’s important to note that there is no written law officially blocking NDP party status. Traditionally, party status is a formality and a set of rules within Parliament. While there is a requirement for every party with over 12 seats to be granted party status, there is no requirement that parties with under 12 seats do not receive party status. The government could have granted the NDP party status, but opted not to.
Ultimately, this puts the New Democratic party in what may be the toughest situation they have seen in their long history. This is just the second time they’ve lost party status, and this session of Parliament will see the NDP with less members than ever before.
