A citizen's guide to the NDP leadership race
Card-carrying members of the New Democratic Party are in the process of voting for their next national leader, though it could take up to three weeks to have the results.
Four candidates are vying to replace the current leader, Thomas Mulcair, who announced his resignation last fall, when the NDP voted in favour of a leadership review. Mr. Mulcair agreed to stay on the job until the party chooses his successor.
In recent years, the NDP has been riding a political seesaw.
The high was in 2011, when — for the first time — it became the nation's Official Opposition. That was under the leadership of Jack Layton.
Five years later came the low, when the party lost 59 seats and was relegated, once again, to third-party status.
We have re-assembled three veteran political watchers who joined us in May, just before the Conservative Party convened to elect its new leader, Andrew Scheer.
- John Ibbitson, who has been a journalist for almost three decades. He is a political writer and columnist at The Globe and Mail.
- Hélène Buzzetti has been parliamentary correspondent for Le Devoir since 1999. She has also served twice as president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
- Tonda MacCharles is the current president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She has been reporting from the Ottawa bureau of The Toronto Star for 18 years.
Click 'listen' above to hear the full conversation.