NDP caucus meets to chart path beyond supply-and-confidence deal

New Democrats are huddling in Montreal to strategize a new path forward ahead of the fall parliamentary session — one that doesn’t include the Liberals at their hips and ideally makes them a credible alternative to the Conservatives at the next election.

The three-day caucus retreat kicking off Tuesday comes less than a week after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced the end of the supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals.

It’s also taking place in one of the two cities where the NDP is hoping to win a byelection on Sept. 16.

Singh said on Wednesday that he had “ripped up” the agreement with the governing Liberals, and tried to position himself as the progressive alternative to Pierre Poilievre. He argued the Liberals are too weak to fight for Canadians and not able to stop the Conservatives.

Kathleen Monk, a former NDP strategist and director of communications for Jack Layton, said New Democrats are likely walking into the retreat feeling “energized.”

“There’s opportunity for New Democrats,” Monk said. “I think being unshackled (from) this agreement, helps put them on a path where Canadians can actually consider them for government.”

NDP MP Heather McPherson said she and her colleagues will be focused on pinning down the party’s priorities ahead of the fall parliamentary session after spending a summer talking to Canadians.

“Clear priorities for us are going to be around health care, around housing, Indigenous justice, the climate crisis, the genocide in Gaza,” said McPherson, who also serves as the party’s foreign affairs critic.

“But I think the big one for us is going to be strategizing on how we bring forward that case to Canadians, that we can beat the Conservatives.”

Monk said the NDP’s decision to pull out of the