Canada PoliticsNDP deputy leader talks to Yahoo! about the party’s tumultuous year
On May 2, 2011, Jack Layton's NDP became Canada's largest ever Official Opposition party with 103 MPs.
Since May, however, it's been a roller coaster of a year for the New Democrats.
They lost their leader to cancer, had hiccups with some inexperienced MPs, struggled at the polls with an interim leader and, in March, finally elected their new leader Thomas Mulcair.
Deputy leader Megan Leslie spoke to Yahoo! Canada News about the party's tumultuous year. Here are some excerpts from the interview:
On the death of Jack Layton:
This was such a hard year for us as a party.
It just happened so suddenly. And he wasn't just a friend, and he wasn't just a leader, he really embodied something for so many of us.
He really did embody hope. He really did embody change we wanted to see in our communities.
It left a big hole in our collective heart — in each of the hearts.
We're figuring out how do be a party without him. That's been hard.
On the rookie MPs:
They had a lot of public expectation — or perhaps I should say a lot of lack of expectation. They had a lot of criticism, a lot of media attention.
I think they have weathered that intense scrutiny really well.
It's really impressive when you have that many brand new MPs who don't have offices yet and are struggling to get office supplies and do their hiring and learn about their riding.
But now I chat with some of them and they see a problem in their community and they're drafting private member's legislation... [it] is amazing that already they're sort of looking at what are the legislative solutions we can offer here. What's my role as an MP? How can I help my constitutions?
They are completely different people than they were a year ago and it is really energizing.
On interim leader Nycole Turmel:
I have so much respect for Nycole, I think she did a tremendous job. I know that there has been pretty public criticism about — for example — her media skills. So what?
What was her role? Her role was to keep the ship upright and she did.
And you never saw an NDP MP running to the media to tell tales about what happened in caucus. You never saw MPs stab each other in the back.
She kept us united and she did her job.
On the next 12 months:
Our focus is to be a serious and substantive opposition to the Conservative government. Our plan is to hold the government to account and to also work to replace them in 2015.
People expect the Conservatives to focus on creating jobs, but instead they're focusing on cutting jobs and cutting services to Canadians, so we're going to keep on that.
At the same time, they are plagued by scandals and mismanagement and some ethical lapses so we're going to hold them to account on those files. Whether it's electoral fraud or F35s, we're going to be there.
On Layton's legacy
We will continue on the course he set.
Jack always said to us we need to be propositional not oppositional. Let's focus on proposition, on getting good ideas, on presenting good ideas.
We call up Jack's qualities quite often when we're faced with tough decisions or when we're faced with trying new things. We call up his memory a lot.
How can we make him proud?
How can we do his legacy proud?
NDP Official Opposition: year one (produced by the NDP)
