The Saskatchewan NDP’s provincial council has voted to cancel their invitation of federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to their party convention.
According to the Regina Leader-Post, the Saskatchewan NDP originally planned on inviting Singh to the party convention, but opted not to invite him over concerns that the federal NDP’s reputation holds back the provincial NDP’s success.
Saskatchewan’s NDP feels that the federal NDP’s coalition with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party has hurt the party’s reputation, turning would-be NDP voters into Saskatchewan Party supporters.
The Saskatchewan Party, the province’s dominant centre-right party, has amassed the province’s support by taking a tough stance against the Trudeau government’s efforts to quash resource development and pipelines, policies that Singh’s NDP supports.
The Saskatchewan NDP were trounced in the 2020 general election by Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party, only winning 13 of the 61 seats in the Saskatchewan legislature.
After the 2020 election, the Saskatchewan NDP concluded that the federal NDP needs to be challenged when they promote policies that are not in the best interest of Saskatchewan.
“Many Saskatchewan New Democrats told us that the federal NDP has reinforced the provincial party’s problems on economic issues and made it more difficult to connect with working class voters in both urban and rural seats,” read a 2020 report reflecting on the NDP’s defeat.
Not everyone was happy with the party’s decision not to invite Singh to the party’s convention, as some raised concerns about not being progressive enough or being perceived as racist.
Some party members believe that the move makes it look like the province’s NDP is shifting rightward on the political spectrum, with one source telling the Regina Leader-Post that the decision makes it look like the Saskatchewan Party is controlling the narrative.
After the Saskatchewan NDP’s provincial council voted 30-28 vote to disinvite Singh from the party’s convention, allegedly “a few people” walked out in protest.
The party made a compromise to instead allow Singh to appear in a video that will be shown at the convention.
According to Singh’s office, the federal NDP leader looks forward to having discussions with the Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck, as Beck attempts to revive the party from four consecutive electoral defeats.
