The federal New Democratic Party will need years to recover from its worst electoral performance in nearly a century, former MP Charlie Angus said.“This is going to be a rough four years,” Angus told reporters, describing the April 28 election outcome as “an unmitigated disaster.”Blacklock's Reporter said Angus, 62, did not seek re-election after his northern Ontario riding of Timmins-James Bay was redistricted. The NDP failed to elect a single MP in Ontario and won only one seat east of Manitoba — Alexander Boulerice in Rosemont-La Petite Patrie, Que. Their total of seven MPs was the party’s poorest showing since 1935, when it ran as the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation..“People feel the party lost touch by becoming very much a leader-focused group,” said Angus. “We need to rebuild the New Democratic Party. We’re like goddamned dandelions. Once we’re on your lawn, you can’t seem to get rid of us.”Angus said the party had drifted away from its grassroots identity. “We used to be a party that was really rooted at the riding level,” he said. “We used to hold pub nights. We used to hold bean dinners. God, we had bean dinners. It was about bringing people in and making them feel like they belonged.”Instead, he said, the NDP became fixated on social media metrics. “We became a Party that was very focused on TikTok likes,” said Angus. “TikTok didn’t get us elected. Data are very important but to be a social democratic movement you need to go back to reinvigorating the riding associations.”.Asked about the leadership of Jagmeet Singh, Angus was cautious. “I have not spoken to Jagmeet Singh since the election,” he said. He called for a new leader who focuses less on lofty policy and more on party-building. “We’ve got boxes of big ideas as New Democrats. What we need is to make a Party again that people feel like they belong to.”Singh had defended his leadership in his final news conference before the vote, saying he had no regrets about not forcing an early election when the NDP was polling at 21%. .“I could not stomach the idea of Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives forming a majority government,” Singh said on April 26.He lost his Burnaby Central seat by 12,032 votes.Despite the party’s collapse, Angus remains hopeful.“I came out of the election feeling pretty burned,” he said, “but I am meeting lots of people who are actually about rebuilding.”
