Latest news with #PeterJulian
National Observer
10-07-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
NDP forges ahead with leadership race despite dissent
The NDP leadership race will launch in September despite calls by veteran MPs and grassroots members to first have a thorough election post-mortem and renewal process. But Peter Julian, who headed up the 1993 renewal process the last time the NDP lost official party status, said taking time to do it right was the key to coming back stronger. 'There is no doubt that when we have the worst result in the century, that we need to properly reflect and be properly accountable on evaluating that campaign,' Julian said. The former NDP MP and party stalwart told Canada's National Observer in an interview Wednesday that at such a critical juncture, the NDP should take six months to talk to party members across the country, take stock of what led to the disastrous 2025 election result and build a stronger foundation to move forward. 'This is where the evaluation is so important to know how these decisions were made and when they were made and why they were made,' he said. He called the 2025 campaign strategy 'deeply flawed,' pointing to such examples as the final days of the campaign when volunteers in his riding were asked to campaign in other ridings despite the tight race. Many other decisions need to be examined, he said, including how national resources and the leadership tour were leveraged. In particular, the party's decision to wait until late in the campaign to release an election platform made no sense, Julian said. A platform could have been used by candidates across the country to help the NDP differentiate itself from the Conservatives and Liberals — both of whom waited until the race's final weeks to release theirs — but instead, it was a 'stealth release' and flew under the radar, he added. 'We can't rush the leadership process. We need to make sure that we get the renewal right, the rebuilding right, that first important stage before we move to leadership,' @ told @ earlier this week. On Tuesday, more than two months after the NDP's worst election result since 1993, the party announced a 'review and renewal' process to 'reflect' on the 2025 election campaign and 'help shape a path forward,' led by Emilie Taman, a former NDP candidate and labour and human rights lawyer. However, today the national council — through a contentious process criticized by some members — approved rules that will launch the leadership contest in September, likely before the review and renewal process is complete. Julian did not immediately respond to a request for further comment on Thursday afternoon on this development. A handful of other prominent New Democrats and grassroots members say a thorough post-mortem must come before the leadership race is launched. 'How can we decide on how to move forward, including with a leadership race, without all the information to assess the moment, where we are?' NDP MP Leah Gazan wrote in a leaked email June 23 criticizing the party for undemocratic decision-making and sidelining racialized and marginalized members. At a confidential meeting on July 10, the NDP federal council decided on some, but not all, of the leadership contest rules, the Toronto Star reported late Thursday afternoon. The entrance fee is set at $100,000 — a cost many say is too high. A newly launched group called Reclaim Canada's NDP, as well as members of the NDP's Indigenous People's Commission, wanted an entrance fee no higher than $50,000 to ensure fresh faces can run, so the decision was "disappointing," said Keith de Silvia-Legault, a spokesperson for Reclaim Canada's NDP. The race will last about six months, starting in September. The six-month duration was heralded as a win by Reclaim Canada's NDP, which bucked against earlier proposals by the party brass for a shorter race. But some members are still concerned that the timing of the leadership race will sideline the review and renewal process. "I, personally, do not foresee there being time between now and the election of a leader, where we will do a proper post-mortem and, personally, I'm afraid that that is an intentional move, because they don't want to do the post mortem, and they don't want to be held accountable," Des Bissonnette, co-chair of the Indigenous People's Commission, said in an interview with Canada's National Observer. Bissonnette would not specify or confirm what happened in the July 10 meeting. Currently, the federal NDP is in debt, reduced to seven seats in the House of Commons and deprived of the resources that official parties of 12 or more MPs have. Everyone has an opinion on where the party should go from here. Nathan Cullen, former provincial and federal NDP MP (and 2012 leadership hopeful), recently penned an opinion piece in the Toronto Star arguing for a short leadership race, on the basis that the minority government could fall at any time. According to Cullen, dragging the process out beyond 2025 will lower the NDPs profile at a time when the House of Commons needs strong opposition. Others disagree. Peggy Nash, a former federal NDP president and MP, thinks the party 'should not rush into anything.' Nash currently works in a non-partisan role removed from the NDP now, but said 'if there's a mood that somehow the central party was too controlling, it was too leader-focused, I think it might not be seen in a good light to have a short, quick election where it seems that there's only one candidate who's going to be the choice.' In her view, it is wisest to hold a wide-ranging, open leadership race over a number of months where candidates can go out, sign up members, build support, raise money and engage in debate to rebuild the party. 'I have been in a leadership campaign, and I think those public debates are really, really healthy, and you can have debates from different perspectives and let the delegates choose,' Nash told Canada's National Observer in a phone interview. A major challenge for the NDP is the need to raise money, which is why some members were willing to compromise with a $50,000 fee, federal council members told Canada's National Observer in June. In the last leadership race the cost was $30,000. But leadership fees are not the only way to raise money. In 1993, one of the byproducts of honest 'unvarnished' conversations and review process was that people saw this work being done and wanted to contribute, both financially and otherwise, to help rebuild the party, Julian explained. 'There is a fundamental reason why having that honest, accountable discussion is so important to rebuilding the NDP; there often are very clear benefits,' he said. 'When we went into the following election, we basically paid off our debt.' Beyond the financial challenge, Julian said the 1993 renewal process allowed people to weigh in on everything and 'touched every aspect of the party.' All that work allowed them to make major changes to the party's democratic structure, its mission, values and produce 'very strong policy documents' on environmental, economic and social policy with widespread support of NDP members at convention. 'We can't rush the leadership process. We need to make sure that we get the renewal right, the rebuilding right, that first important stage before we move to leadership,' Julian said.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Inside the NDP's last-ditch efforts to save Jagmeet Singh and his riding
In the dying days of the federal election campaign, senior New Democrats made a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save Jagmeet Singh's Burnaby, B.C., seat. Some say it was unwinnable. At least 20 staff from the party's Ottawa headquarters packed the leader's campaign plane just days before the April 28 election, hitching a ride to the West Coast with a mission to door-knock on his behalf. This was after a small team were sent to Burnaby Central earlier in that month. The cross-country venture was a waste of resources when the party was fighting for its life in other, closer races, according to three, frustrated sources within the party, who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Singh placed a distant third in Burnaby Central, losing to Liberal Wade Chang by more than 12,000 votes. The party as a whole lost 17 of its 24 seats. But there were eight other incumbent ridings — where NDP candidates placed second and obtained a greater vote share than Singh — which, sources say, the party had a better chance of retaining. In the riding neighbouring Singh's, New Westminster Burnaby–Maillardville, incumbent MP Peter Julian lost by less than 2,000 votes, for example. Éric Grenier, the publisher of who also maintains CBC's Poll Tracker, also says the party made some bad decisions, and could have placed more effort on other seats like Winnipeg's Elmwood Transcona or Skeena–Bulkley Valley in B.C.'s north, which were also lost. "It is remarkable that the NDP, at the end of the campaign, when things are going as badly as they were, would have poured resources into a riding that should not have been in their top 15 targets in terms of trying to win to get official party status," Grenier said. It shows "a relatively significant misuse of the resources." Grenier says there was no chance that a "better ground game" would have overcome the 24-point gap between Singh and Chang. It is normal for parties to pour significant resources into a leader's riding if they are thought to be in trouble, because leaders can't door-knock in their ridings and run an effective national campaign simultaneously. Not deploying resources could also send the wrong optics that the party is not fully behind its leader. According to the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, Conservatives deployed a team of staffers in Pierre Poilievre's Ottawa-area riding of Carleton riding, which he lost. Jennifer Howard was in charge of the NDP's federal campaign. In an interview with CBC News, she did not dispute that staffers were sent to Burnaby Central, but also said she was "ruthless" with how the party allocated resources. The veteran NDP senior staffer said every effort was made to help in incumbent campaigns, and that Singh's riding did not receive special treatment. Protecting incumbents and battlegrounds On April 10, at NDP national campaign headquarters in Ottawa, staff were invited into a boardroom for what was described in a staff-wide email as an afternoon video screening. It was actually to watch a new political video featuring Singh. In the two-minute video, which was also posted on YouTube, Singh stands before a bronze statue of former party leader Jack Layton in Toronto. "Canada works best when there are enough New Democrats elected to stand up for you," Singh says. Three senior party and campaign officials — national campaign director Jennifer Howard, Singh's principal secretary Anne McGrath and NDP national director Lucy Watson — were there to walk staff through the new political message, which was a pivot from trying to form government, to merely electing as many NDPers as possible. That meant focusing on incumbent and battleground seats, say CBC's confidential sources, who were at the meeting. Those sources expected staff would be spread out across the country to such ridings, but they noticed a heavy concentration on Singh's seat, which surprised them. A handful of staff were sent to Burnaby Central. The party paid for most of the travel, accommodation and food expenses. After a few days of door-knocking and phone canvassing, the sources say it became clear that Singh would likely not win. One source said, at the doors, NDP supporters made it clear that they were flipping to the Liberals or Conservatives. Door-knockers log their interactions, and the data gets fed into the NDP campaign apparatus. Despite the dismal support, headquarters leadership doubled down and sent more staff to Burnaby. The three sources said that the NDP campaign headquarters was emptied on the weekend before election day, which all campaigns tend to do to get out the vote. But most of the NDP's staff, a full-court press of between 20 and 30, were flown to Burnaby in a last-ditch attempt to save Singh's riding. "I don't think it was wise to send all those resources," one source who was on the ground said. "I found myself confused." "It was confusing that we had 24 incumbent seats, but most of us were being sent to Burnaby." Another source, who worked in a non-B.C. battleground riding, says it seemed like a misuse of campaign resources, especially when other ridings could have used more help. "I was really shocked at how much they were spending literally on knocking on doors for people out there and paying for meals and hotels," the person said. All three sources told CBC News the trend is part of a leader-centric approach to campaigning, within all the parties, and which the NDP warned itself against in a debrief of its performance in the 2021 election. "The NDP is more than just Jagmeet," it says, criticizing that election's campaign. Avi Lewis, an NDP candidate who also lost his bid for Vancouver Central, warns against second-guessing campaign decisions in the dying days of the campaign. But Lewis he take issue with the growing concentration of power within the NDP. It was a trend, he said, that began under Layton. "It's too-much focused on a theory of political change that people are looking for one person to save us," he said. "In the wider time frame, I think that's toxic to politics." Grenier, at though, says the NDP's approach to save Singh's seat did not make sense because he probably would not have been able to remain as leader. It seems "a little bit too leader-focused," he said. "Regardless of whether his seat was won or not, he was probably going to be done as leader."
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Inside the NDP's last-ditch efforts to save Jagmeet Singh and his riding
In the dying days of the federal election campaign, senior New Democrats made a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save Jagmeet Singh's Burnaby, B.C., seat. Some say it was unwinnable. At least 20 staff from the party's Ottawa headquarters packed the leader's campaign plane just days before the April 28 election, hitching a ride to the West Coast with a mission to door-knock on his behalf. This was after a small team were sent to Burnaby Central earlier in that month. The cross-country venture was a waste of resources when the party was fighting for its life in other, closer races, according to three, frustrated sources within the party, who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Singh placed a distant third in Burnaby Central, losing to Liberal Wade Chang by more than 12,000 votes. The party as a whole lost 17 of its 24 seats. But there were eight other incumbent ridings — where NDP candidates placed second and obtained a greater vote share than Singh — which, sources say, the party had a better chance of retaining. In the riding neighbouring Singh's, New Westminster Burnaby–Maillardville, incumbent MP Peter Julian lost by less than 2,000 votes, for example. Éric Grenier, the publisher of who also maintains CBC's Poll Tracker, also says the party made some bad decisions, and could have placed more effort on other seats like Winnipeg's Elmwood Transcona or Skeena–Bulkley Valley in B.C.'s north, which were also lost. "It is remarkable that the NDP, at the end of the campaign, when things are going as badly as they were, would have poured resources into a riding that should not have been in their top 15 targets in terms of trying to win to get official party status," Grenier said. It shows "a relatively significant misuse of the resources." Grenier says there was no chance that a "better ground game" would have overcome the 24-point gap between Singh and Chang. It is normal for parties to pour significant resources into a leader's riding if they are thought to be in trouble, because leaders can't door-knock in their ridings and run an effective national campaign simultaneously. Not deploying resources could also send the wrong optics that the party is not fully behind its leader. According to the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, Conservatives deployed a team of staffers in Pierre Poilievre's Ottawa-area riding of Carleton riding, which he lost. Jennifer Howard was in charge of the NDP's federal campaign. In an interview with CBC News, she did not dispute that staffers were sent to Burnaby Central, but also said she was "ruthless" with how the party allocated resources. The veteran NDP senior staffer said every effort was made to help in incumbent campaigns, and that Singh's riding did not receive special treatment. Protecting incumbents and battlegrounds On April 10, at NDP national campaign headquarters in Ottawa, staff were invited into a boardroom for what was described in a staff-wide email as an afternoon video screening. It was actually to watch a new political video featuring Singh. In the two-minute video, which was also posted on YouTube, Singh stands before a bronze statue of former party leader Jack Layton in Toronto. "Canada works best when there are enough New Democrats elected to stand up for you," Singh says. Three senior party and campaign officials — national campaign director Jennifer Howard, Singh's principal secretary Anne McGrath and NDP national director Lucy Watson — were there to walk staff through the new political message, which was a pivot from trying to form government, to merely electing as many NDPers as possible. That meant focusing on incumbent and battleground seats, say CBC's confidential sources, who were at the meeting. Those sources expected staff would be spread out across the country to such ridings, but they noticed a heavy concentration on Singh's seat, which surprised them. A handful of staff were sent to Burnaby Central. The party paid for most of the travel, accommodation and food expenses. After a few days of door-knocking and phone canvassing, the sources say it became clear that Singh would likely not win. One source said, at the doors, NDP supporters made it clear that they were flipping to the Liberals or Conservatives. Door-knockers log their interactions, and the data gets fed into the NDP campaign apparatus. Despite the dismal support, headquarters leadership doubled down and sent more staff to Burnaby. The three sources said that the NDP campaign headquarters was emptied on the weekend before election day, which all campaigns tend to do to get out the vote. But most of the NDP's staff, a full-court press of between 20 and 30, were flown to Burnaby in a last-ditch attempt to save Singh's riding. "I don't think it was wise to send all those resources," one source who was on the ground said. "I found myself confused." "It was confusing that we had 24 incumbent seats, but most of us were being sent to Burnaby." Another source, who worked in a non-B.C. battleground riding, says it seemed like a misuse of campaign resources, especially when other ridings could have used more help. "I was really shocked at how much they were spending literally on knocking on doors for people out there and paying for meals and hotels," the person said. All three sources told CBC News the trend is part of a leader-centric approach to campaigning, within all the parties, and which the NDP warned itself against in a debrief of its performance in the 2021 election. "The NDP is more than just Jagmeet," it says, criticizing that election's campaign. Avi Lewis, an NDP candidate who also lost his bid for Vancouver Central, warns against second-guessing campaign decisions in the dying days of the campaign. But Lewis he take issue with the growing concentration of power within the NDP. It was a trend, he said, that began under Layton. "It's too-much focused on a theory of political change that people are looking for one person to save us," he said. "In the wider time frame, I think that's toxic to politics." Grenier, at though, says the NDP's approach to save Singh's seat did not make sense because he probably would not have been able to remain as leader. It seems "a little bit too leader-focused," he said. "Regardless of whether his seat was won or not, he was probably going to be done as leader."
CBC
24-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Inside the NDP's last-ditch efforts to save Jagmeet Singh and his riding
In the dying days of the federal election campaign, senior New Democrats made a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save Jagmeet Singh's Burnaby, B.C., seat. Some say it was unwinnable. At least 20 staff from the party's Ottawa headquarters packed the leader's campaign plane just days before the April 28 election, hitching a ride to the West Coast with a mission to door-knock on his behalf. This was after a small team were sent to Burnaby Central earlier in that month. The cross-country venture was a waste of resources when the party was fighting for its life in other, closer races, according to three, frustrated sources within the party, who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Singh placed a distant third in Burnaby Central, losing to Liberal Wade Chang by more than 12,000 votes. The party as a whole lost 17 of its 24 seats. But there were eight other incumbent ridings — where NDP candidates placed second and obtained a greater vote share than Singh — which, sources say, the party had a better chance of retaining. In the riding neighbouring Singh's, New Westminster Burnaby–Maillardville, incumbent MP Peter Julian lost by less than 2,000 votes, for example. Éric Grenier, the publisher of who also maintains CBC's Poll Tracker, also says the party made some bad decisions, and could have placed more effort on other seats like Winnipeg's Elmwood Transcona or Skeena–Bulkley Valley in B.C.'s north, which were also lost. "It is remarkable that the NDP, at the end of the campaign, when things are going as badly as they were, would have poured resources into a riding that should not have been in their top 15 targets in terms of trying to win to get official party status," Grenier said. It shows "a relatively significant misuse of the resources." Grenier says there was no chance that a "better ground game" would have overcome the 24-point gap between Singh and Chang. It is normal for parties to pour significant resources into a leader's riding if they are thought to be in trouble, because leaders can't door-knock in their ridings and run an effective national campaign simultaneously. Not deploying resources could also send the wrong optics that the party is not fully behind its leader. According to the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, Conservatives deployed a team of staffers in Pierre Poilievre's Ottawa-area riding of Carleton riding, which he lost. Jennifer Howard was in charge of the NDP's federal campaign. In an interview with CBC News, she did not dispute that staffers were sent to Burnaby Central, but also said she was "ruthless" with how the party allocated resources. The veteran NDP senior staffer said every effort was made to help in incumbent campaigns, and that Singh's riding did not receive special treatment. Protecting incumbents and battlegrounds On April 10, at NDP national campaign headquarters in Ottawa, staff were invited into a boardroom for what was described in a staff-wide email as an afternoon video screening. It was actually to watch a new political video featuring Singh. In the two-minute video, which was also posted on YouTube, Singh stands before a bronze statue of former party leader Jack Layton in Toronto. "Canada works best when there are enough New Democrats elected to stand up for you," Singh says. Three senior party and campaign officials — national campaign director Jennifer Howard, Singh's principal secretary Anne McGrath and NDP national director Lucy Watson — were there to walk staff through the new political message, which was a pivot from trying to form government, to merely electing as many NDPers as possible. That meant focusing on incumbent and battleground seats, say CBC's confidential sources, who were at the meeting. Those sources expected staff would be spread out across the country to such ridings, but they noticed a heavy concentration on Singh's seat, which surprised them. A handful of staff were sent to Burnaby Central. The party paid for most of the travel, accommodation and food expenses. After a few days of door-knocking and phone canvassing, the sources say it became clear that Singh would likely not win. One source said, at the doors, NDP supporters made it clear that they were flipping to the Liberals or Conservatives. Door-knockers log their interactions, and the data gets fed into the NDP campaign apparatus. Despite the dismal support, headquarters leadership doubled down and sent more staff to Burnaby. The three sources said that the NDP campaign headquarters was emptied on the weekend before election day, which all campaigns tend to do to get out the vote. But most of the NDP's staff, a full-court press of between 20 and 30, were flown to Burnaby in a last-ditch attempt to save Singh's riding. "I don't think it was wise to send all those resources," one source who was on the ground said. "I found myself confused." "It was confusing that we had 24 incumbent seats, but most of us were being sent to Burnaby." Another source, who worked in a non-B.C. battleground riding, says it seemed like a misuse of campaign resources, especially when other ridings could have used more help. "I was really shocked at how much they were spending literally on knocking on doors for people out there and paying for meals and hotels," the person said. All three sources told CBC News the trend is part of a leader-centric approach to campaigning, within all the parties, and which the NDP warned itself against in a debrief of its performance in the 2021 election. "The NDP is more than just Jagmeet," it says, criticizing that election's campaign. Avi Lewis, an NDP candidate who also lost his bid for Vancouver Central, warns against second-guessing campaign decisions in the dying days of the campaign. But Lewis he take issue with the growing concentration of power within the NDP. It was a trend, he said, that began under Layton. "It's too-much focused on a theory of political change that people are looking for one person to save us," he said. "In the wider time frame, I think that's toxic to politics." Grenier, at though, says the NDP's approach to save Singh's seat did not make sense because he probably would not have been able to remain as leader. It seems "a little bit too leader-focused," he said. "Regardless of whether his seat was won or not, he was probably going to be done as leader."
CBC
10-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
These incumbent MPs lost their races. Now, they're packing up and saying goodbye
Social Sharing The last item former NDP MP Peter Julian will pack when he leaves his parliamentary office in downtown Ottawa is a single steel-toed work boot. For more than 20 years, the boot has been sitting in Julian's office — a strong reminder of his focus on advocating for "the needs of regular working people," he said. The boot was the first thing Julian unpacked when he moved into the office two decades ago. Soon, it will be packed and flown across the country to British Columbia and reunited with its pair, which has been at Julian's constituency office. "There's a symbolism in it being first but also being last," Julian said. "They help to keep me grounded on what's important." Julian is one of at least 40 incumbent MPs who lost their seat in the House of Commons last election. In interviews with CBC's The House, some described the moment as more than just losing a job. It's the end of a chapter of their life they've spent years, even decades, writing. Julian lost his riding of New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville to Liberal Jake Sawatzky, one of the youngest incoming parliamentarians. When asked how he's feeling, Julian said he's "fine." "This is democracy," he told host Catherine Cullen. "Every election, you anticipate the worst and you work for the best." Others are struggling. In the hallway outside her parliamentary office in Ottawa on Thursday morning, former Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola teared up thinking of the people in her Quebec riding of Beauport-Limoilou that she's "left behind." "The hard stuff is not here," Vignola said as she waited for House of Commons staff to come and check her office was properly vacated. "The hard stuff is in the riding." More than 1,200 people went to Vignola and her office looking for help immigrating to Canada. She said they signed papers giving her permission to help with their cases. But those papers were signed to Vignola and her team — not the riding. Because she lost the recent federal election, Vignola said the files have been "destroyed." "I'm their last resort. I'm the last resource," Vignola said, her voice wavering. "And now they have to do it all over again with someone else. I hope they'll take their situation[s] as seriously as I did." Two floors above Vignola, former Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins was packing up his own office. The most striking feature was a lobster trap which Perkins said replaced a typical coffee table. "All these dignitaries in Ottawa, they all want their picture taken in front of the lobster trap," Perkins said. "Not by the Canadian flag, but by the lobster trap." The last two weeks have been "tough," Perkins said. "You have good days when you're having constant calls. The phone never stops ringing — well, it will stop soon, but it's been ringing and it's heartfelt stuff from the riding." The outgoing Nova Scotia MP said there's camaraderie between him and other incumbent Conservatives who also lost their races. Perkins also said there's some comfort in knowing he lost by thousands of votes. "If I had lost by 12 votes, I would have been really angry because I could have knocked on one or two more doors and maybe changed that." Perkins said. Favourite moments in office Former Ontario Liberal MP Marc Serré says he fondly remembers the new Canadians he saw at citizenship ceremonies — in particular a Syrian refugee family that settled in Sudbury. Serré said he greeted the family at the airport when they landed in January 2015. "They started their own restaurant, and the community supported them. And just that welcoming aspect of [the community] was just amazing. And as a member of Parliament, you will never forget that," Serré said. Serré said the campaign was "very challenging" but he's hopeful for the future with the Liberals still in power. He lost his riding of Sudbury East-Manitoulin-Nickel Belt to Conservative challenger Jim Belanger. "There's a lot of anxiety within the staff, obviously moving forward," Serré said. "Right now, I'm going to turn the page and start a new chapter." Vignola's highlight is helping someone secure their citizenship after years of delays because their file had been lost by the federal government. "We succeeded [in resolving] his case in a month, which is a miracle if you know how our immigration is," she said with a laugh. The man's folder fell between two filing cabinets, Vignola said. She also referenced another who waited for his wife to join him in Canada for three years before she finally arrived. "They came to my office to thank the team and I. That was magical," Vignola said. Partisanship and co-operation When asked what he'll miss most on Parliament Hill, Perkins said "the people, my colleagues and I've made some really good friends" like former Ontario NDP MP Brian Masse. The two worked together on the House industry committee. Masse, who served in Parliament for more than 20 years until he lost his race in Windsor West, is a "really good guy" and "a fantastic MP" according to Perkins. Perkins said Masse offered to endorse him during the campaign. There was no NDP candidate in Perkins's riding of South Shore-St. Margarets. "I get a little emotional when I talk about that because that's the kind of relationship you can develop if you truly believe in what you're doing and treat other MPs with respect," Perkins said. In a statement, Masse referenced "the joint efforts of MPs of all political backgrounds, and the many times we found common ground for the betterment of Canada. Those comments remain on the public record." Perkins also highlighted Bill Blair's work when wildfires ripped through suburban Halifax and Shelburne County in 2023. Blair was the emergency preparedness minister at the time and got the resources Perkins's community needed to fight the fires and save homes. "The lines blur between parties when you're trying to fight for your community," Perkins said. Julian said he enjoys the partisan side of politics "when it's an honest debate of ideas" but lamented that Canada could get a lot more done if more parliamentarians recognized their first loyalty is to Canadians and building a better country. "We could pass bills every week with proper examination. I don't disagree with the proper examination of [legislation], but the problem is we are allowing that partisanship to block so many things that could benefit so many Canadians." Serré experienced the dark side of political divisions when he was physically assaulted in his campaign office during the 2021 federal election. He told The House there were also protests at his home, which affected his family. Despite those experiences, Serré said he's proud of the work he's done. "I'd do it again … I'd try to figure out a way to deal with my personal life a bit differently," Serré said. "But from an MP perspective, you gotta put your neck out and there are consequences to that." What comes next? Serré said he's taking a breather but he still wants to try and find different ways to build up northern Ontario, especially the northeast. "I'm still going to want to make a difference for my community, but today I'll do it a different way. I think being an MP — that chapter is closed," Serré said. "Maybe my opponents will be happy to hear that." When asked what he'll do next, Perkins said it was a "multimillion-dollar question." He's not sure whether he'll run again, but in the meantime he wants to make sure his staff find employment. "I'll be out of this office by the end of next week," Perkins said. "And then I'll start, once I'm through that, probably turning my attention to what I do next." Vignola also isn't sure what comes next. But she said maybe she'll go back to teaching in September. "This is the end of a chapter, and we'll see what I write in the next one," Vignola said. Julian said he wants to remain engaged in his community, and he plans to knock on doors in the riding once he completes the move — which is taking up a lot of space in his mind. "I've been unemployed for the first time since I was 12," Julian said with a chuckle. "But the whirlwind that comes with having to close off all of the offices and close off the apartment [in Ottawa] doesn't allow for reflection." That personal reflection will come after May 20 — Julian's deadline to vacate his office.
