In the morbundos days of the federal electoral campaign, the new Senior Democrats made a desperate attempt of last left -handed for saving the seat of Burnaby, BC, BC of Jagmeet Singh. Some say it could not be done.
At least 20 employees of the Ottawa headquarters of the match packed the leader’s campaign plane a few days before the elections of April 28, walking a trip to the west coast with a mission to the door door in his name. This was after a small team was sent to Burnaby Central earlier that month.
The company through the country was a waste of resources when the party fought for its life in other closest races, according to three, frustrated sources within the party, which spoke with CBC News about the condition that they were not identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Singh placed a distant third in Central Burnaby, losing to Wade Chang Liberal for more than 12,000 votes.
The party as a whole lost 17 of its 24 seats.
But there were eight other regular currents, where NDP candidates placed secondly and obtained a greater participation of votes than Singh, which, according to the sources, the party had a better opportunity to retain.
In the neighboring mountain of Singh, New Westminster Burnaby – Maillardville, the parliamentary headline Peter Julian lost for less than 2,000 votes, for example.
Éric Grenier, The Writer Editor, Who also maintains the CBC survey tracker, also says that the game made some bad decisions, and could have put more effort in other seats such as Elmwood Transcona or Skeena -Bulkley Valley of Winnipeg in northern BC, which were also lost.
“It is remarkable that the NDP, at the end of the campaign, when things go as bad as they were, would have poured resources into a driving that should not have been in its 15 main objectives in terms of trying to win to obtain the official party status,” Grenier said.
Shows “a relatively significant use of resources.”
Grenier says there was no possibility that a “better land game” would have exceeded the 24 -point gap between Singh and Chang.
It is normal for the parties to pour significant resources in the conduct of a leader if they believe they are in trouble, because the leaders cannot make a put in their cables and direct an effective national campaign simultaneously.
Not implementing resources could also send the incorrect optics that the party is not completely behind its leader. According to the Globe and Mail and the Toronto star, the conservatives deployed a team of employees in the driving of Carleton in the Ottawa area of Pierre Poilievre, which he lost.
Jennifer Howard was in charge of the Federal Campaign of the NDP. In an interview with CBC News, he did not argue that the employees were sent to Central Burnaby, but also said it was “ruthless” with the way the party assigned the resources.
The NDP veteran senior employee said they did everything possible to help in the starting campaigns, and that Singh’s driving did not receive special treatment.
Protect the headlines and battlefields
On April 10, at the headquarters of the NDP National Campaign in Ottawa, the staff was invited to a joint room for what was described in an email of all staff as a afternoon video projection.
Actually, it was to watch a new political video with Singh.
In the two -minute video, which was also published on YouTube, Singh is facing a bronze statue of former Jack Layton party in Toronto.
“Canada works better when there are enough new Democrats chosen to defend you,” says Singh.
Three senior party and campaign officials: the national campaign director Jennifer Howard, the main secretary of Singh, Anne McGrath, and the national director of NDP Lucy Watson – Were they there to walk the staff through the new political message, which was an axis of trying to form the government, to simply choose as many NDPERS as possible?
That meant focusing on the head and battlefield seats, say the confidential sources of CBC, which were at the meeting.
These sources expected the staff to spread throughout the country to such cables, but noticed a strong concentration in the Singh seat, which surprised them.
A handful of staff was sent to Burnaby Central. The party paid most travel, accommodation and food expenses.
After a few days of doors jacket and telephone fences, the sources say it became clear that Singh would probably not win.
A source said that, at the doors, NDP supporters made it clear that they were turning to the liberals or conservatives.
The door knots record their interactions, and the data feed on the NDP campaign apparatus. Despite the lousy support, the leadership of the headquarters doubled and sent more personal to Burnaby.
The three sources said that the headquarters of the NDP campaign was emptied the weekend before the day of the election, which all campaigns tend to do to obtain the vote.
But most NDP personnel, a press of the complete court between 20 and 30, were transferred to Burnaby in a last attempt to save Singh’s driving.
“I don’t think it was prudent to send all those resources,” said a source that was on the ground. “I found myself confused.”
“It was confusing that we had 24 headlines, but most of us were being sent to Burnaby.”
Another source, which worked in a battle driving that is not BC, says it seemed a misuse of campaign resources, especially when other currents could have used more help.
“I was very surprised how much they were spending literally calling the doors for people and paying meals and hotels,” said the person.
The three sources told CBC News that the trend is part of a leader -centered approach to the campaign, within all parties, and that the NDP was warned in a report of its performance in the 2021 elections.
“The NDP is more than just Jagmeet,” he says, criticizing the campaign of that choice.
Avi Lewis, an NDP candidate who also lost his commitment to Vancouver Central, warns against secondary campaign decisions sounds on the dying days of the campaign. But Lewis deals with the growing concentration of power within the NDP.
It was a trend, he said, which began under Layton.
“It focuses too much on a theory of political change that people are looking for a person who saves us,” he said. “In the broadest period of time, I think it is toxic to politics.”
However, Grenier, at Thewrit.ca, says that the NDP approach to save the Singh seat made no sense because it probably could not have stayed as a leader.
It seems “a bit too focused on the leader,” he said. “Regardless of whether his seat was won or not, he would probably be done as a leader.”
