The bus is orange. The seats are lined. And the battle cry for supporters on board is borrowed from the late Jack Layton: “Do not let them tell you that this cannot be done.”
Layton led the NPD To its best electoral result in 2011, when the party won 100 seats and, for the first and the only time, has become the official opposition.
Jagmeet SinghOn the other hand, he fights to maintain the official status of the party.
A world model for projection of new seats, based on a total of surveys carried out until March 24, indicates that the NPD can only win three seats.
To be recognized as an official part in the House of Commons – and qualify for more financing slots and research question – a party must win 12 seats. The NPD won 24 in 2021.
Global News traveled with Singh the first week of federal campaign And has witnessed a leader who finds it difficult to attract great crowds, to travel at a slower pace than his rivals and to face repeated questions about his political future.
“I run in this election to fight for you, not for billionaires,” said Singh repeatedly during press conferences and in social media videos recorded on the bus.
But the leader of the NPD is fighting for his own political survival, even if he insisted, he always presents himself to become the next Prime Minister.
The global model for projection of new siege has the liberal candidate Wade Chang Singh himself in British Columbia in Central Burnaby.
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Singh launched his third electoral campaign in Ottawa, before going to Montreal for an event that provided an overview for much of the week; A few dozen volunteers wrapped inside a small office.
Although her campaign has a plane, she did not steal before seven days.
The Singh team has chosen not to wrap it in the Party brand, explaining that there were “best uses” for the funds. The NPD claims that it will spend the maximum amount authorized by the Canada elections limit, which was $ 30 million in 2021, and that it entered the campaign with “a record momentum”.
But on the ground, traveling with the campaign, this “momentum” appeared modest, without major gatherings the first week. Singh spent most of the second day of the campaign on highway 401 – traveling six hours by bus between Montreal and Toronto.
The next day, while in the largest metropolis in Canada, he made no new political announcements, despite the demonstration of Housing crisis.
When the Singh campaign arrived in Hamilton – a city that prides itself on being known as Steeltown of Canada – the leader of the NDP has faced questions for having “missed the moment” by not making specific prices at the rate or by visiting a factory floor.
Party staff told journalists that they expected that media coverage focuses on Singh’s economic policies and did not think price would dominate much of the discussion.
Each journalist on board reported the tariff threat.
The next day, Singh went to London, Ontario, where his party holds a seat, but cut this visit to Windsor, the heart of Canada automotive sectorTo meet Trump’s prices on vehicles made outside the United States
The pivot seemed to be a rare culminating point for a campaign team that sometimes seemed exasperated by daily questions surrounding the support of the party.
Recent Ipsos survey done exclusively for Global News has shown that voters are turning more and more towards Liberal leader Mark Carney To orient Canada through trade war with the United States
Conservatives also gain land with the traditional NPD blue -collar base and receive avales from the private sector union.
While the new Democrats are faced with dark survey numbers, the Singh team tried to put a brave face during the first week, huddling most of the nights for a speech of closing encouragement.
Optimism has extended to a small campaign event in the office of the local candidate of Monique Taylor in the conduct of Bellwether by Hamilton-Mountain, where the NPD remains a third distant behind the Liberals and the Conservatives.
A few kilometers away the same night, the conservative chief Pierre Hairyis organized a rally which attracted thousands of supporters.
After the NPD campaign event, Taylor visited Singh’s bus, where leaders and political employees developed in the back, and journalists were seated, observed and tried to meet the deadlines near the front.
Before descending, Taylor, who had resigned as Ontario deputy in the hope of joining the Federal Caucus of the NPD, turned and reminded Singh and his team the hope of Layton; “Don’t let them tell you that it can’t be done.”
– with David Akin files