Singh ‘confident’ more New Democrats will be elected, as campaign readies final push

Jagmeet Singh says he does not regret pushing for an earlier election, even if this campaign sees his party lose seats. Rachel Aiello explains.

According to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, the party’s internal numbers are “much better” than what national polling indicates, and he is “confident” about how many NDP MPs will be elected on Monday.

“We’re going to re-elect lots of New Democrats and we’re going to elect more New Democrats. We’re confident about that,” Singh said in an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos.

The interview was taped on Friday and is being released on Saturday. Clips from the recording were shared exclusively in advance with CTV News.

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Singh’s comment – likely his most direct of the campaign in terms of his party’s prospects amid swirling questions about the NDP potentially losing official party status – came in response to a question about New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois voters appearing to flock to the Liberals in this election.

“What are you thinking when you see these numbers shift this way dramatically?” Stroumboulopoulos asked.

“I mean, the numbers are all over the place, and that’s why I’m just going to count on what the eventual,” Singh began before Stroumboulopoulos asked: “But you must have internal polls?”

That’s when Singh said that his “internals” were “much better.”

“But why I think these last couple days of the campaign are important is people need to go in wide-eyed, and know what they’re voting for,” Singh went on to say.

With a combined social media audience of more than 1.4 million, the NDP campaign cited this interview – done outside of the events the travelling pool team has on its itinerary – as an example of Singh’s efforts to target younger voters, and to and bring his message directly to voters in the final days of the 2025 federal election.

For the better part of the campaign Singh has faced repeated questions about his inability to gain traction in what largely came down to a two-way race between the Liberals and Conservatives, centred on the ballot question of who would be best to handle U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic and sovereignty threats.

Singh has also expressed a level of trepidation about what polling aggregators and national topline numbers showed, and so his late-in-the-game confidence about the party electing “more” MPs is notable. The NDP entered this race with 24 seats, and need 12 to maintain official party status. As of Friday, polling aggregator 338 Canada estimates Singh’s party will hold on to between two and 15 seats.

‘You need New Democrats there’

In the interview, Singh was asked what it says that Canadians didn’t seem to connect with the NDP in this race, or vice versa, and he attributed it to the Trump factor.

“In a crisis, what happens often is people kind of stick with what they know. Whoever was in government, they kind of stick with that,” Singh said.

He also commented on how Liberal Leader Mark Carney is angling for a strong mandate, and how his fear is Canadians decide to give him that, leaving no progressive check on that power.

“Imagine a Parliament, just like if we do a little mental picture here… The Liberals win and the only opposition is the Conservatives. Well, that’s going to bring out the worst in the Liberals,” Singh said.

“They’re going to be pushed by Conservatives to go further to the right, so they’re going to cut deeper. They’re going to get rid of the things that people need,” Singh said. “You need New Democrats there to balance that out.”

The NDP campaign’s focus for final days

In the final weekend of the shortest possible election period, Singh is in the midst of a final swing through southwestern Ontario. It’s part of an effort to give local campaigns a last boost.

While acknowledging the party isn’t likely to come out of Monday with 100 seats, those close to Singh say they still have lots of reasons to be optimistic.

This is the case particularly in ridings where incumbents are running, and in nearby seats where the NDP are seeing a bleeding over of support that’s creating some close races that could be pushed over the edge by the energy of a leader’s visit.

Those candidates, one campaign source said, are feeling buoyed by what they are hearing at the doors, reports of high voter contact, and by what they described as an unprecedented number of lawn sign requests.

‘Joy in the struggle’ for Singh

When asked by CTV News on Friday morning how he’s able to stay upbeat amid a challenging campaign that’s thrown the future of his party into question, Singh said he’s learned over the tough times he’s had in life to “have joy in the struggle.”

“In all those struggles, I found that you can either laugh or cry, right? In those tough times,” an emotional Singh said to a standing round of applause.

“But it’s also what we’re fighting for,” Singh continued. “We’re fighting for something we really believe in… It’s a very different energy. Our goal is to lift up people, our goal is to make people’s lives better. We want to take better care of each other. So, it motivates you in a very different way.”

“And I’m surrounded by an incredible team of people that believe in this, that believe that we can build a better world together. And it’s hard not to be filled with joy when you’re surrounded by such incredible people fighting for such a great reason,” Singh said.

Expect Singh to keep pushing this message until election day as the NDP focus on getting as many MPs elected as possible, including the leader himself.