| | + | The NDP has traditionally been an opponent to both the [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Party]] and [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]] as well as the separatist [[Bloc Quebecois]]. From their success in the 2011 Canadian federal election, the NDP beat their all-time record of 43 seats of the Ed Broadbent era with 103 seats in the House of Commons, making them the official opposition, although they still have little to no power, even after falling back to third place with 44 seats in the 2015 election. |
| | + | Increasing social programs such as public health care (including dental) and education and a dramatic raise in taxes of all forms (except small business taxes). They support giving more money to the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]], [[Quebec]], and the arts. They favor heavier regulation in all aspects of the economy. |
| | + | The federal NDP is ideologically further to the Left than the currently-ruling Liberals, as are its provincial wings, and they often align with the Liberals on a number of issues, including [[environmentalism]], [[abortion]], tax increases, the [[homosexual agenda]], [[multiculturalism]], imposition of [[Islam]], Aboriginal issues, leniency toward criminals and the "legalization" of [[marijuana]]. The NDP have never held power federally, although their provincial wings have formed governments in [[British Columbia]], [[Alberta]], [[Saskatchewan]], [[Manitoba]], [[Ontario]], [[Nova Scotia]] and the [[Yukon Territory]]. Past NDP governments in British Columbia (under Mike Harcourt and then Glen Clark, both of whom were forced to resign their offices due to corruption scandals), in Ontario (under Bob Rae) and in Alberta (under [[Rachel Notley]], the daughter of former Alberta NDP leader Grant Notley) were highly unpopular with voters in those provinces, as is the current NDP government in British Columbia under [[John Horgan]]. |
| | + | The NDP was formed in 1961 through the merger of its predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), with the Canadian Labour Congress in an alliance of the political Left and organized labor in Canada. Because of its left-leaning political platforms<ref name="NDP Dark History">[http://www.poletical.com/a-dark-history-of-the-ndp.php The NDP's Dark History]</ref> and an alliance advocated by then-Alberta CCF president William Irvine with the Labor-Progressive Party (which was the name used by the then-outlawed [[Communist Party of Canada]] between 1943 and 1959 to allow them to run in elections), the CCF and its membership (particularly Tommy Douglas<ref name="NDP Dark History"/>) were accused of having ties to Communism. |