The New Democratic Party (NDP; French: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic and democratic socialist, the party sits at the centre-left to left-wing of the Canadian political spectrum, to the left of the Liberal Party. The party was founded in 1961 by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress. As of 2026, it is the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons, with five seats.
The federal and provincial (or territorial) level NDPs are more integrated than other political parties in Canada, and have shared membership. The NDP has never won the largest share of seats at the federal level and thus has never formed a government. From 2011 to 2015, it formed the Official Opposition; apart from this, it has been the third or fourth-largest party in the House of Commons. However, the party has held the balance of power, and with it considerable influence, during periods of Liberal minority governments. Sub-national branches of the NDP have formed the government in six provinces (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia) and the territory of Yukon.
The NDP supports a mixed economy, broader welfare, Senate abolition, LGBTQ rights, international peace, environmental stewardship, and expanding Canada's universal healthcare system to include dental care, mental health care, eye and hearing care, infertility procedures, and prescription drugs.
Contents
History
20th century
In 1956, after the birth of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) by a merger of two previous labour congresses, negotiations began between the CLC and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) to bring about an alliance between organized labour and the political left in Canada. In 1958 a joint CCF-CLC committee, the National Committee for the New Party (NCNP), was formed to create a new social democratic political party, with ten members from each group. The NCNP spent the next three years laying down the foundations of the New Party, the party's interim name pending a national convention. During this process, a large number of New Party Clubs were established to allow like-minded Canadians to join in its founding, and six representatives from New Party Clubs were added to the National Committee. In 1961, at the end of a five-day long founding convention which established its principles, policies and structures, the New Democratic Party was born, and Tommy Douglas, the long-time CCF Premier of Saskatchewan, was elected as its first leader. Supporters of the New Democratic Party are sometimes referred to as "Dippers".
At the 1971 leadership convention, an activist group called the Waffle tried to take control of the party but was defeated by David Lewis with the help of the union members. The following year, most of The Waffle split from the NDP and formed their own party. The NDP itself supported the minority government formed by the Pierre Trudeau–led Liberals from 1972 to 1974, although the two parties never entered into a coalition. Together, they succeeded in passing several socially progressive initiatives into law such as pension indexing and the creation of the crown corporation Petro-Canada.
In 1974, the NDP worked with the Progressive Conservatives to pass a motion of non-confidence, forcing an election. However, it backfired as Trudeau's Liberals regained a majority government, mostly at the expense of the NDP, which lost half its seats. Lewis lost his own riding and resigned as leader the following year.
Under Ed Broadbent (1975–1989) the NDP attempted to find a more populist image to contrast with the governing parties, focusing on more pocketbook issues than on ideological fervour. The party played a critical role during Joe Clark's minority government of 1979–1980, moving the non-confidence motion on John Crosbie's 1979 budget that brought down the Progressive Conservative government and forced the 1980 election that brought the Liberal Party back to power.
21st century
A Toronto city councillor and recent President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Jack Layton was elected at the party's leadership election in Toronto on January 25, 2003.
The 2004 election produced mixed results for the NDP. It increased its total vote by more than a million votes; however, despite Layton's optimistic predictions of reaching 40 seats, the NDP only gained five seats in the election, for a total of 19. The party was disappointed to see its two Saskatchewan incumbents defeated in close races by the new Conservative Party (created by merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties), perhaps because of the unpopularity of the NDP provincial government.
The Liberals were re-elected, though this time as a minority government. Combined, the Liberals and NDP had 154 seats – one short of the total needed for the balance of power. As has been the case with Liberal minorities in the past, the NDP were in a position to make gains on the party's priorities, such as fighting health care privatization, fulfilling Canada's obligation to the Kyoto Protocol, and electoral reform. The party used Prime Minister Paul Martin's politically precarious position caused by the sponsorship scandal to force investment in multiple federal programs, agreeing not to help topple the government provided that some major concessions in the federal budget were ceded to.
On November 9, 2005, after the findings of the Gomery Inquiry were released, Layton notified the Liberal government that continued NDP support would require a ban on private healthcare. When the Liberals refused, Layton announced that he would introduce a motion on November 24 that would ask Martin to call a federal election in February to allow for several pieces of legislation to be passed. The Liberals turned down this offer. On November 28, 2005, Conservative leader Stephen Harper's motion of no confidence was seconded by Layton and it was passed by all three opposition parties, forcing an election.
During the election, the NDP won 29 seats, a significant increase of 10 seats from the 19 won in 2004. It was the fourth-best performance in party history, approaching the level of popular support enjoyed in the 1980s. The NDP kept all of the 18 seats it held at the dissolution of Parliament. While the party gained no seats in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, or the Prairie provinces, it gained five seats in British Columbia, five more in Ontario and the Western Arctic riding of the Northwest Territories.
Ideology and policies
The NDP evolved in 1961 from a merger of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The CCF grew from populist, agrarian and socialist roots into a modern social democratic party; it has also been described as democratic socialist. Although the CCF was part of the Christian left and the Social Gospel movement, the NDP is secular and pluralistic. It has broadened to include concerns of the New Left, and advocates issues such as LGBT rights, international peace, and environmental stewardship. The NDP also supports a mixed economy and broader welfare, and has a left-wing, democratic socialist faction. The NDP is a member of the Progressive Alliance, a political international of progressive and social democratic parties.
Ideological orientation
The NDP's constitution states that both social democracy and democratic socialism are influences on the party. Specific inclusion of the party's history as the continuation of the more radical Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and specific identification of the "democratic socialist" tradition as a continuing influence on the party are part of the language of the preamble to the party's constitution:
New Democrats are proud of our political and activist heritage, and our long record of visionary, practical, and successful governments. That heritage and that record have distinguished and inspired our party since the creation of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1933 and the founding of the New Democratic Party in 1961. New Democrats seek a future that brings together the best of the insights and objectives of Canadians who, within the social democratic and democratic socialist traditions, have worked through farmer, labour, co-operative, feminist, human rights and environmental movements, and with First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, to build a more just, equal, and sustainable Canada within a global community dedicated to the same goals.
Health care
The NDP states that it is committed to public health care. The party states that it fights for "a national, universal, public pharmacare program to make sure that all Canadians can access the prescription medicine they need with their health card, not their credit card – saving money and improving health outcomes for everyone". The party also states its support for expanding services covered under the national health care system to include dental care, mental health care, eye and hearing care, infertility procedures, and prescription drugs. Regarding dentistry, the NDP notes that "one in three Canadians has no dental insurance and over six million people don't visit the dentist every year because they can't afford to. Too many people are forced to go without the care they need until the pain is so severe that they are forced to seek relief in hospital emergency rooms".
Palestine
The NDP supports the Palestinian state. In March 2024, the House of Commons passed an NDP motion on Palestine after significant amendments were agreed with the Liberals. In particular, the motion called on the government to "officially recognize the State of Palestine"; however, this was amended to "work...towards the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution."
Electoral achievements
Since its formation, the party has had a presence in the House of Commons. It was the third largest political party from 1965 to 1993, when the party dropped to fourth and lost official party status. The NDP's peak period of policy influence in those periods was during the minority Liberal governments of Lester B. Pearson (1963–1968) and Pierre Trudeau (1972–1974). The NDP regained official status in 1997, and played a similar role in the Liberal and Conservative minority governments of 2004–2006 and 2006–2011, respectively. Following the 2011 election, the party became the second-largest party and formed the Official Opposition in the 41st Canadian Parliament.
Provincial New Democratic parties, which are organizationally sections of the federal party, have governed in six of the ten provinces and one territory. As of 2025, the NDP governs the provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba, forms the Official Opposition in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, and has sitting members in every provincial legislature except those of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec. The NDP has previously formed the government in the provinces of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and the Yukon Territory. The NDP has since its founding in 1961 had at least one sitting member in every provincial legislature except that of Quebec.
While members of the party are active in municipal politics, the party does not organize at that level. For example, though former Toronto mayor David Miller was an NDP member during his successful 2003 and 2006 mayoral campaigns, his campaigns were not affiliated with the NDP. This is also the case with incumbent Toronto mayor Olivia Chow, Hamilton mayor Andrea Horwath, and former Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart.
Federal secretaries and national directors
Federal secretaries
Ervin (Ernie) Hall (1961)
Terry Grier (1962–1966)
Clifford Scotton (1966–1974)
Robin Sears (1974 – aft. 1980)
Mary Ellen McQuay (c. 1981 – c. 1982)
Gerry Caplan (1982–1984)
Dennis Young (c. 1985)
Bill Knight (1988–1989)
Dick Proctor (1989–1992)
Peter Julian (acting; c. 1990s)
David Woodbury (c. 1997)
Jill Marzetti (1997 – aft. 2000)
Chris Watson (c. 2003)
Eric Hébert-Daly (2004–2008)
National directors
Dick Proctor (interim; c. 2008 – 2009)
Brad Lavigne (2009–2011)
Nathan Rotman (2012–2014)
Anne McGrath (2014–2015)
Karl Bélanger (interim; 2016)
Robert Fox (2016–2018)
Melissa Bruno (2018–2019)
Anne McGrath (2019–2024)
Provincial and territorial wings
Unlike most other Canadian federal parties, the NDP is integrated with its provincial and territorial parties. Holding membership of a provincial or territorial section of the NDP includes automatic membership in the federal party, and this precludes a person from being a member of different parties at the federal and provincial levels. Membership lists are maintained by the provinces and territories. This has the effect of there being different minimum membership ages depending on the province, with age ranges from 12 to 14 years old.
There have been three exceptions: Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Quebec. In Nunavut and in the Northwest Territories, whose territorial legislatures have non-partisan consensus governments, the federal NDP is promoted by its riding associations, since each territory is composed of only one federal riding.
In Quebec, the historical New Democratic Party of Quebec was integrated with the federal party from 1963 until 1989, when the two agreed to sever their structural ties after the Quebec party adopted a sovereigntist platform. For the next two decades, the federal NDP was represented in Quebec only by their Quebec Section, whose activities in the province were limited to the federal level. In 2014, the New Democratic Party of Quebec (NDPQ) was re-established as a federalist party, unaffiliated with the federal NDP. The NDPQ dissolved at the end of 2024. The province's democratic socialist party, Québec solidaire, is not affiliated with the NDP and supports Quebec sovereignty.
On May 3, 2025, the Alberta NDP voted to end automatic joint membership with the federal NDP, giving provincial members the option to opt out of federal membership.
The New Democratic Party currently forms government in British Columbia and Manitoba, and has previously formed government in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Yukon.