Robinson was involved in the New Politics Initiative, an effort to build a new progressive political party in Canada closely linked with social movements and labour, and the NDP's renewal process, although he remained committed to the party after the NPI's defeat at the 2001 general convention in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

This position was not part of the NDP's official party policy, leading some high-profile party members, such as NDP House Leader Bill Blaikie and former NDP leader Alexa McDonough, to publicly indicate that they did not share Layton's views.

The ensuing compromise in the NDP's favour was protested by the other opposition parties who used it as a pretext to force a non-confidence vote.

This by-election was notable for many reasons, including the incredibly low support the governing NDP received ( coming in fourth ), and marking the absolute low point for the NDP's electoral support.

One was the NDP's provincial affiliates in British Columbia and Ontario, whose unpopularity in government reflected badly on the federal party.

He was re-elected in the new riding of Broadview — Greenwood in the 1979 federal election, and gained national prominence as the NDP's finance critic.

Besides many NDP supporters nationwide voting Liberal to ensure that the Conservatives would be defeated ( to avoid the vote-splitting of the 1988 election ), the Rae government's unpopularity was a major factor in the federal NDP's losses.

During the 2003 provincial election, Hampton argued that Rae was wrong to reverse the NDP's commitment to public auto insurance.

Blaikie was appointed as the NDP's Social Policy Critic in 1979, and was promoted to Health Critic in 1980.

He was retained as the NDP's External Affairs Critic after the Progressive Conservatives won a second consecutive majority government in the 1988 federal election, and was also chosen as his party's spokesman for federal-provincial relations and the Constitution.

The NDP's 2003 leadership convention was the first to be determined by a partial " one member, one vote " system in which all members of the NDP were eligible to cast ballots.

He was also named as the NDP's National Defence Critic, and was front and centre in pushing the Liberals to not participate in the Iraq War, in opposing Canadian participation in ballistic missile defence, and in asking questions about the rules of engagement and changing role of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

The NDP's predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation ( CCF ), was a democratic socialist political party, founded in 1932.

This voting practice did do damage to the NDP's electoral fortunes because it was interpreted as a call for blanket support for Liberal candidates over NDP candidates, with no real thought to which candidate had a better chance to defeat a Conservative in any individual riding.

The election was the first to be conducted under the NDP's new partial one member, one vote system, in which the popular vote of the members is weighted for 75 % of the result.

The dispute over the Waffle led to the disbanding of the Ontario NDP's youth wing in 1972, which was not revived until 1988.

The question of leadership was important to the NDP's victory.

In 2009 the Manitoba NDP's Riel riding association proposed a resolution on replacing the flag as " outdated and a relic from the days of our former British colonial heritage " but this was not heard by the party convention.

Historically, his election as leader has been interpreted as a victory of the provincial NDP's " establishment " over its extreme left-wing Waffle faction, because Lloyd was trying to move the party more to the political left, which meant he supported the Waffle Manifesto at the October 1969 Federal NDP convention in Winnipeg.

Dosanjh was the former leader of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia and briefly Premier of British Columbia before his and the BC NDP's election loss in 2001.

Green opposed what he described as " special privileges " for unions and minority groups, and was particularly opposed to the NDP's plans for anti-scab legislation.

In 1989, McDonald became Minister of Finance and served in that position until 1991 when he again became Minister of Education until the NDP's defeat in the 1992 election.

The MacDonald Government called an election for June 13, 2006, and Dexter was once again the NDP's candidate for Premier.

Final results gave the PPP eighteen of twenty-four seats compared with the NDP's two seats and four seats for independents.

Historically, the NDP's popular vote does not translate into a proportional number of seats because of scattered support.

The election increased the NDP's total seats to 29 seats, up from 18 MP before dissolution.

Due to the nature of the first past the post system, which awards power solely on the basis of seats won, this gave Lougheed a strong majority government, with 49 seats to the Socreds ' 25 and the NDP's one.

The NDP's focus on attacking the Liberals failed to recognize the surging support for the Canadian Alliance in the province of Saskatchewan, which the NDP had hoped to gain seats in.

An ominous sign for the party came in the 1993 federal election, in which all of the NDP's Ontario MPs lost their seats.

Most of the NDP's seats were in north-end Winnipeg and the north of the province.

The Progressive Conservatives won 7 seats to the Liberals ' 15 and the NDP's 39.

In the 1978 election, the Liberals were wiped out, and the Tories became the Official Opposition with 17 seats to the governing NDP's 44.

Binns ' PC Party defeated the Liberal Party led by Milligan in the general election on November 18, 1996, gathering 18 seats to the Liberals ' 8, and the NDP's 1.

In the wake of the NDP's breakthrough in the 2011 federal election in which they won over 100 seats and formed Official Opposition in the House of Commons for the first time, Socialist Caucus chair Barry Weisleder told the Globe and Mail that “ the election on May 2 sent a very clear message: the voters rejected the Liberal Party and the NDP should not strive to become a substitute Liberal Party.

Surprisingly, the NDP suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of independent candidates, who secured more than half of the 444 seats up for election versus the NDP's 39 percent.

While the NDP failed to gain any seats under his leadership, neither did they lose any ( Social Credit won 47 seats to the NDP's 22 in the newly enlarged BC Legislative Assembly ).

In mid-November 2005, when Liberal support dropped after the Gomery Commission delivered its first report, Layton offered the Prime Minister several conditions in return for the NDP's continued support.

The NDP's predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation ( CCF ), began in 1936 when a CCF club was founded in the Bedeque region during a visit by CCF MP Ted Garland.

Lill's first formal political involvement came during the 1970s when she joined the NDP's left-wing Waffle movement.

The NDP's internal divisions became public in 1993, when Ontario MP Steven Langdon was removed as Finance Critic after criticizing the economic policies of Ontario NDP Premier Bob Rae.

Because of his long running and historic criticism of the NDP's legislative failure on gay rights issues, Rae surprised many when he endorsed former New Democratic Party Premier Bob Rae ( who is no relation to Kyle Rae ) when the latter successfully contested the Toronto Centre federal by-election on March 17, 2008 as the Liberal Party candidate.