Federal NDP presence in Alberta cut down to just one woman

CityNews took to the Edmonton Strathcona riding, where NDP Member of Parliament Heather McPherson finds herself all alone in Alberta as the party’s only elected representative.

It was a disastrous night for the NDP, having lost a majority of their seats in the House of Commons and their official party status.

CityNews spoke with McPherson, and she says the party needs to rebuild.

“This country needs New Democrats. We don’t want a two-party U.S. style system,” she explained.

McPherson says her party has a lot of work ahead, moving on from party leader Jagmeet Singh, who couldn’t hold onto his own seat and announced his resignation Monday.

But she feels he’s leaving behind an impactful legacy.

“I think history will remember Jagmeet as the leader that expanded healthcare, the biggest expansion of healthcare in a generation since Tommy Douglas and the NDP did it the first time. I’m really going to miss working with him.”

One political scientist says a rebuild of the party may take several election cycles for the NDP to get back, noting several key issues at play in this election may not apply next time.

“For the most part, the NDP lost to the Liberals, who were afraid of two things: Donald Trump and Pierre Poilievre,” explained Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University.

Williams says one thing that may help the NDP is voters who temporarily lent their support to other parties to combat issues with the U.S. and affordability.

“They could certainly give it back to the NDP in a future election with different issues at play,” said Williams.

As for McPherson, she won’t say if she’s looking at party leadership, just that she’s ready to return to Ottawa.

“It’s hard. There’s only seven of us, but I can tell you the other six are some of the most fierce members of parliament I have ever seen. So, we will roll up our sleeves and get back to work.”