Post-Election Pulse Check: NDP Fights for Party Status, Liberals Welcome Monarch, Conservatives Scramble
Post-mortems are for the dead. Canadian politics is very much alive.
Tuesday morning, the polling stations reverted back to churches and schools and libraries. Canadians returned to the rest of their work weeks, back to frowning at grocery prices and cursing at traffic. I went from an NDP candidate and employee to unemployed and in dire need of doing laundry. These transformations do not, however, point to an actual pause or conclusion. An election is quite literally the very beginning of a government : a pregame, even. Whether we like it or not, politics moves forward. It may leave us behind for a moment, dazed by the frenzy of campaign season, but only far enough to pull us back in with a jolt on a leash.
I believe in campaign autopsies, identifying where we went wrong and how we can improve, but not while the body’s still got a pulse. Right now, we need to stay alert.
Remain vigilant, friends — your burnout and diverted attention serves the interest of politicians who want early movements to go unnoticed.
Here’s some updates on three parties since the election that you need to know about.
1. The NDP’s Not Done: Securing Party Status in Overtime?
The results are in. The NDP only has 7 seats, looking minuscule next to the Liberals’ 169, the Conservatives’ 143, and even the Bloc’s 23 (Source: CBC News). The 2021 elections gave the NDP 24 MPs, meaning that 17 seats were lost this year.
In Canada, you need 12 seats to receive Official Party Status. 7 falls 5 short.
Here’s what it means to lose status:
A lot less money. A significant loss of parliamentary funds for the party. Deep cuts to research budgets, support staff wages, and even office phone lines.
Smaller voice in government. Members can’t ask nearly as many questions during sessions. They don’t get access to committees. They are called to speak less.
Disadvantage in representing Canadians. Combining the first two points, you realize that constituents of these 7 ridings that elected NDP MPs will now have lesser representation at the table due to the imbalance in resources and privileges.
Don Davies, NDP MP-elect of Vancouver Kingsway, told CTV that the 12-seat requirement for party status is “arbitrary,” adding that “everything’s negotiable in politics” (Source: CTV News).
“Liberals don’t have a majority, they’re going to need the support of other parties. And when that happens, when you don’t have a majority, they’re compelled to sit down with other parties and start negotiating.”
This comes after Prime Minister Mark Carney responded in an interview last Friday that he would not engage in formal partnership with the NDP, but that was before the Liberals fell short of a majority government.
We have yet to see official movement, but there’s an argument to be made in favour of the NDP being granted official party status despite the lack of seats. One approach would be to show the party’s popular vote: ~6% nationally, around the same as the Bloc’s. In our parliamentary government where the system is funded by every taxpayer, is it fair to deny 6% of Canadians official party representation on the basis of our First-Past-the-Post, Winner-Takes-All electoral system? What message would that send to citizens who are already on the fringe, disenfranchised and on the verge of admitting they “wasted” their vote in a self-proclaimed democratic society?
The NDP has been the sole major party in recent years to push for electoral reform, which would have avoided such issues. The party has advocated for proportional representation and attempted to form a citizen’s assembly to assess needs. Liberal and Conservative MPs worked together to vote this motion down in early 2024 (Source: NDP).
The NDP caucus had its first meetings on May 1st and 2nd but have not announced anything on this topic yet. Keep an eye out and start conversations around this.
2. “King of Canada” to Open Parliament for Carney’s Liberal Government.
King Charles III will be travelling to Canada on May 26th and 27th to open parliament and deliver a speech from the throne (Source: CBC News). This is the first time a monarch has done so since 1957 during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. It will also be Charles’ first visit to Canada since becoming King.
Prime Minister Mark Carney had apparently asked Charles about this possibility during his visit to Buckingham palace prior to the Canadian election. He recently described Charles’ visit as a “historic honour.”
Governor General Mary Simon said:
“Our Canadian identity is deeply rooted in our Constitution and this visit highlights the enduring relationship between Canada and the Crown.”
It seems the Liberal government aims to embrace Canada’s ties with the monarchy.
Charles called himself the “King of Canada” in a recent address, an unusual statement.
“President Trump's comments about Canada becoming the 51st state have increased the political significance of King Charles undertaking official engagements as King of Canada,” Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris said to CBC over email.
I understand the national fear Canadians have felt this year over American annexation, and I can empathize with the notion of feeling comforted by foreign officials standing on our side. I do not aim to dismiss that. I pose the question, though: will Carney’s Liberal government commit to Canada’s project of reconciliation with its Indigenous peoples, and how?
I ask this genuinely. Both Carney and Charles have shown public support for reconciliation and respect for Indigenous voices, but we have yet to see direct action or promises.
Quebec passed legislation in 2022 that ended the requirement that elected officials must take an oath to the monarchy. Canada’s national parliament introduced a similar bill in 2024 which was defeated by a vote of 197-113.
Only 5 months ago in November 2024, the newly elected city council of Dawson City in Yukon Territory refused to pledge allegiance to King Charles III in solidarity with one council member’s hesitation, being Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, given the Crown’s troubled history with indigenous people (Source: BBC). Yukon amended its Municipal Act to offer an alternative oath that would allow councillors to swear to the constitution of Canada (Source: CBC News).
I raise an early concern that the Liberal government may position President Trump’s threats as a reason to de-prioritize reconciliation and instead uncritically bolster Canada’s relationship to the British monarchy. I worry that this may happen despite the House of Commons unanimously passing a motion in 2023 to declare the ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people a national emergency as spearheaded by NDP MP Leah Gazan (Source: CBC News).
In September 2024, Gazan proposed a motion for a second reading of Bill C-223 “An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income,” in line with national recommendations to addressing gender-based violence. It was voted down by all 3 Independent MPs, all 32 Bloc MPs, all 118 Conservative MPs, and 120 of 148 Liberal MPs (Source: NDP & Parliament of Canada).
Mark Carney has also refused to call what Isreal is doing in Gaza against the Palestinian people a genocide, saying he doesn’t want to “politicize” the situation (Source: CJPME). 362 candidates signed onto the Vote Palestine platform this election, which signifies that they pledge for a two-way arms embargo on Israel, ending Canadian support for Israeli settlements, and recognition of the state of Palestine. 216 were members of the NDP and 28 Liberal. 25 of them won their seats: 6 NDP and 18 Liberal.
NDP MP Heather McPherson, in September 2024, urged the Liberal minority government to recognize Palestinian statehood and ban military trade with Israel in lieu of the snap election, especially given the Conservative lead in the polls at the time, to which the Liberals did not adhere (Source: CBC News).
April 30th 2025, this past Tuesday, UK Middle East minister rejected calls from MPs to recognize Palestinian statehood (Source: MEE).
What may the Liberal government’s public Canada-UK alliance mean for those in Canada advocating for reconciliation and for Palestinian sovereignty?
3. Conservatives Hit Shuffle: Incoming Alberta Seat By-Election for P.P. to Remain Leader
Conservative Strategist Kate Harrison spoke about the strange outcome of this election for her party with Catherine Cullen on CBC’s The House:
“Mixed emotions (…) Important advancements in the voter coalition. Losing the leader seat is devastating.”
The Conservative party went from 120 seats in the 2021 election to 143 seats this year, an increase of 23 seats. Though they failed to form government, they increased their total vote share nationally by 7.5%, while the NDP’s decreased by 11.5% and the PPC by 4.2% (Source: BBC). The Liberal’s increased their seats from 152 to 169, an increase of 17 seats, and vote share by 11.1%
Despite these achievements, the Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre lost his Carleton seat he held for 20 years to Liberal MP-elect Bruce Fanjoy. Poilievre did not announce a resignation at any point.
Despite Conservative provincial Premiers like Doug Ford criticizing the federal party’s campaign, Harrison denies an internal “family feud,” saying that it does not reflect the movement as a whole and can be reduced to a “personal spat” amongst “half a dozen people.”
Conservative MP-elect Damien Kurek announced on May 2nd that he will be resigning from his Alberta seat in the Battle River-Crowfoot riding, where he won with 82% of the votes, to allow for Poilievre to run in a by-election and hopefully give him a seat in the House of Commons (Source: CBC). Mark Carney said that he would call the by-election as soon as possible to ensure Poilievre has the chance to quickly return to the House of Commons, though official actions have yet to be confirmed.
It seems that we should expect to see Poilievre back in the House before long and, in the meantime, a larger Conservative voice in parliament than we’ve become accustomed to.
I will raise the question, though, of what you think about this arrangement. Is it okay that an elected local official can resign to let an unelected party leader jump over two provinces to secure a ‘safe’ seat? Poilievre was given the same chance that every candidate was plus the advantages of being a long-term incumbent and the ability to redirect federal campaign resources to his own seat, yet lost. How does it sit with you that he can commit to a 4 hour plane ride a couple weeks or months down the line and continue living in his taxpayer funded public mansion?