'We lost touch': Former NDP MP Charlie Angus calls election an 'unmitigated disaster' for the party

OTTAWA — Former NDP MP Charlie Angus says he does not intend to run for party leadership, but called the recent election campaign “an unmitigated disaster” for New Democrats.  Angus, who did not seek reelection after first entering the House of Commons in 2004, appeared on Parliament Hill on Wednesday to express concerns he has heard from people about U.S. President Donald Trump’s upcoming trip to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in Alberta. He also shared feedback he heard about the New Democratic Party itself. “The election was a disaster, unmitigated disaster, for the New Democratic Party,” Angus told reporters. “I feel two things: One is that people feel that the party lost touch by becoming very much a leader-focused group, as opposed to the New Democratic Party of Canada.” The NDP lost 17 seats in the recent federal election, including the seat of its former leader, Jagmeet Singh, who stepped down from his role. It was the party’s worst ever showing in a Canadian election. With only seven MPs, the party was left without official party status in the House of Commons, which curtails the amount of resources a party can receive, making their work in Parliament more challenging. The last time the NDP lost party status was in 1993. Angus says he’s heard from people who want to see a three-party system in Canada and that “we need to rebuild the New Democratic Party.” He pointed to the Liberals’ marquee bill, which proposes ushering in a new approval process to fast-track major energy and infrastructure projects, which has been met with concerns from environmental groups and First Nations leaders. That bill, Angus said, was an example of why the country needs a “progressive left-wing party” at parliamentary committees to ensure that legislation gets passed that serves the country’s interests. “And right now we’ve lost that ability, he said. “This issue of renewal of the party is super important. But we have to understand that if we are (a) social democratic party, we have to be a democratic party from the grassroots. We have to re-engage with people. We lost touch, and we have to be honest about that.” Interim NDP Leader Don Davies has said the party was focused on pushing for resources in Parliament. Angus called Davies “the obvious choice” to serve as the party’s interim leader until it holds a leadership race to select a new permanent leader. Despite his return to Parliament Hill on Wednesday, the former longtime MP said he was not interested in the job. “I will not be running for the leadership,” Angus said. “I felt ever since Donald Trump came to power that I need to focus on Canada, and I will continue to focus full-out.” Angus declined to speculate on who he believes would be best placed to take the party’s top job, but outlined some basic criteria. “Number one, you got to be able to win,” he said. “Number two, is recognizing, you know, the strength of the social democratic movement was it was the social democratic movement.” He suggested it was time the party ditched Zoom and got back to holding more in-person events and rebuild at the riding association level to welcome more people into the party. The NDP became a party that was “very focused on TikTok likes,” Angus said. “I’m sure that helps, but TikTok didn’t get us elected.” National Post staylor@postmedia.com Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.