Grassroots NDP group calls on party faithful to redirect donations to local riding associations
"This election, Canadians showed that the NDP feels out of reach as a viable political option," the group — called Reclaim Canada's NDP — said in a press release sent out Saturday afternoon.
The group said that by reallocating funding directly to riding associations, "progressive community organizers can access the resources required to meaningfully and equitably rebuild the NDP without being bureaucratically tangled with the party's management."
According to Elections Canada, a candidate's campaign is eligible for reimbursement if they were elected or received at least 10 per cent of the valid votes.
Reclaim Canada's NDP said New Democrats in less than 50 ridings out of 343 met that minimum threshold for reimbursement — which puts the party at risk in future elections.
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"Not only was this a bad election for us, but millions of Canadians represented by the NDP going forward ... are going to have a harder time being represented in those election periods as well," said Ji Won Jung, a spokesperson for the group.
The NDP also faces another challenge in the House of Commons. Its caucus is too small to be a recognized party, meaning it's lost funding for the leader's office and research bureau. The NDP was reduced to seven seats in the April 28 election — five short of the 12 needed to be a recognized party in the House of Commons.
In its press release, Reclaim Canada's NDP also said the party's upper management "has since come under fire for several controversies."
In May, three New Democrat MPs — Leah Gazan, Lori Idlout and Jenny Kwan — wrote a letter disputing the party's appointment of NDP MP Don Davies as interim leader and said the process "failed to uphold democratic and transparent principles."
Jung said the group decided the most effective way for the NDP to build toward the future is focusing on riding associations rather than the central party.
"I wouldn't call this a financial concern. I think this is much more structural concern about how this recent federal election was conducted, how resources were allocated and how fundraising has been managed and directed the past while," they said.
According to a document posted on the website of Reclaim Canada's NDP, the group's goal is to convince between five and 10 per cent of the NDP's federal donor base to cancel donations to the central party and send them directly to local riding associations.
The group provides an email template donors can send to the NDP.
"I will continue to support the NDP, but on a local level, and I will continue resuming my central donation once I see the party regain the trust of its grassroots and the working class," the template reads.
CBC News has reached out to the NDP for comment.
Is the NDP splintering?
Rachel Blaney, a former NDP MP for the B.C. riding of North Island-Powell River, told CBC News she hopes the message Canadians take away from the group isn't that the party is struggling with unity.
"Every group always has to have times that are challenging," Blaney said. "We're coming close to a leadership campaign. I think it's really important that people who are running for leadership in this party understand the need for some significant grassroots engagement."
"It was really the people on the ground in my community that kept me centred," Blaney said. "I don't think this is about division as it is about a need for a very important conversation about how we come together after such a significant defeat."
Jung said the group hopes the press release starts a conversation to "figure out what our way forward would be working together as New Democrats."
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