The 2003 New Democratic Party leadership election was held to replace New Democratic Party of Canada leader Alexa McDonough, after her retirement. It ended on January 25, 2003, with the first ballot victory of popular Toronto city councillor Jack Layton.
The election was the first to be conducted under the NDP's new partial one member, one vote system, in which the popular vote of the members is weighted for 75% of the result. The rest are votes cast by delegates for affiliated organizations (mainly labour unions). It was also the first Canadian leadership convention to allow Internet voting; delegates who chose to vote electronically were given a password to a secure website to register their votes.
The race was heated, with the leaders campaigning to NDP audiences across Canada. One of the most notable events of the campaign occurred at the convention in Toronto, the day before the election, when candidate Pierre Ducasse made a stirring speech.[1] Ducasse's speech attracted widespread praise,[2][3] although its late delivery was unable to sway the postal and internet votes which had already been cast.
Candidates
Jack Layton
Jack Layton
At the time of the election, Jack Layton was the Toronto City Councillor for Ward 30 and vice chair of Toronto Hydro, and a former university lecturer and environmental consultant. He had run and lost in both the 1993 and 1997 federal elections. His emphases included homelessness, affordable housing, opposing violence, the natural environment and the green economy. While other campaigns stressed federal experience, Layton's campaign contended that his record on Toronto council and as former president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities encompassed national issues and would transfer to the federal stage, and that as Alexa McDonough had on her election as leader, he could lead the party successfully from outside Parliament until winning his own seat.
At the time of the election, Bill Blaikie was the MP for Winnipeg-Transcona, the NDP House leader and the critic on intergovernmental affairs, justice, the Solicitor General, and parliamentary reform. He had been a Member of Parliament for over 20 years. His emphases included trade, Medicare, taxes and the environment, and his parliamentary experience. An ordained minister in the United Church of Canada, Blaikie was a prominent heir to the Social Gospel, Christian left tradition deeply rooted in the NDP.
Lorne Nystrom was the MP for Regina—Qu'Appelle at the time of the election, and the NDP critic of economic policy, finance, banks, national revenue, public accounts, Crown corporations and electoral reform. Through his 29 years in Parliament, it was the third time he had run for leader. Nystrom campaigned heavily on the issue of electoral reform. Other emphases included his parliamentary experience and practical left-wing economics; he had edited a book on financial issues, Just Making Change.
Date campaign launched: July 31, 2002
Joe Comartin
Joe Comartin
Joe Comartin was the MP for Windsor—St. Clair and the party's environment critic at the time of the election. His election in 2000 had been the first federal win for the NDP in Ontario in ten years, and he had helped add a second Ontario seat with Brian Masse's win in the neighbouring riding of Windsor West in 2002. He emphasised foreign affairs, particularly in the Middle East, and his campaign included significant outreach to Arab and Muslim Canadians. Comartin received high profile support from the Canadian Auto Workers. Of the candidates, Comartin was considered the furthest left on economic policy.[4]
Pierre Ducasse was the Associate President of the NDP at the time of the election. His underdog campaign stressed outreach in Quebec and building the party toward electoral success. It also drew on Ducasse's background in co-operative economics.
John Gilbert Layton was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on Toronto City Council, occasionally holding the title of acting mayor or deputy mayor of Toronto during his tenure as city councillor. Layton was the member of Parliament (MP) for Toronto—Danforth from 2004 until his death.
William Alexander "Bill" Blaikie was a Canadian politician. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2008, representing Elmwood—Transcona and its antecedent ridings in the House of Commons of Canada for the federal New Democratic Party. Following his retirement from federal politics, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 2009 until 2011, representing the Winnipeg division of Elmwood as a member of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba, and served as Minister of Conservation and Government House Leader.
Alexa Ann McDonough was a Canadian politician who became the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Nova Scotia, when she was elected the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party's (NSNDP) leader in 1980.
Lorne Edmund Nystrom is a Canadian politician and was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 2004. He is a member of the New Democratic Party.
Pierre Ducasse is a Canadian politician and New Democratic Party (NDP) activist.
Peter Arend Stoffer is a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Sackville—Eastern Shore or its redistributed equivalents from the 1997 election until his defeat in the 2015 election. A member of the New Democratic Party, Stoffer served as the Official Opposition Critic for Veterans Affairs after his party became the official opposition after the 2011 election.
New Democratic Party leadership elections, more commonly known as leadership conventions, are the process by which the Canadian New Democratic Party elects its leader.
Joseph John Comartin is a retired Canadian lawyer and politician. He represented the riding of Windsor—Tecumseh as its Member of Parliament (MP) from 2000 to 2015. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), he ran for its leadership in 2003. He called for a return to social democratic policies after the party's drift to the centre during the 1990s, and voiced concerns regarding American influence over Canada's economy and foreign policy. After serving in a variety of leadership roles, he retired from parliament in 2015. From 2018 to 2022 he served as the Consul General of Canada in Detroit, representing Canada in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio.
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The New Democratic Party is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic, the party occupies the centre-left of the political spectrum, with a left-wing, democratic socialist faction, with the party generally sitting to the left of the Liberal Party. The party was founded in 1961 by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).
This article covers the history of the New Democratic Party of Canada.
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