Interim NDP Leader Don Davies says he’s positive none of his seven-member caucus will cross the floor this fall, with MPs set to return to the House of Commons next week. In an interview with CTV Question Period airing Sunday, Davies said he is “100 per cent” confident his entire caucus will stay NDP in the upcoming sitting. When asked by host Vassy Kapelos whether he has any doubts whatsoever about caucus crossing the floor, Davies said: “No, not at all.” “We’ve engaged over the summer, I’ve had meetings with all of our caucus members and discussions,” he said, adding that the group is meeting in B.C. this week to game out the parliamentary session. “It’s going to be very exciting,” he said. “We have seven very experienced, very energetic, passionate parliamentarians.” The interim leader added that with the largely two-party Parliament, the NDP is ready to “punch above (its) weight” to get things done in the House. MPs are set to return Sept. 15, with the NDP caucus down to seven members after the April election. In early May, Davies told Global News that the Liberals were making phone calls and putting out “feelers” to see if any NDP MPs would consider crossing the floor. With 169 MPs, the Liberals are three seats shy of a majority government. A ‘difference between identity politics and inclusion,’ The race to replace former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, meanwhile, kicked off this week. Singh stepped down from the party’s leadership on election night, after he lost his own seat and the number of MPs elected to the House of Commons was slashed to seven. One of the party’s leadership race rules is drawing criticism: namely that of the 500 member signatures required on a potential candidate’s nomination form, at least half must be from members who do not identify as a cisgender man. On a recent episode of The Paikin Podcast, hosted by Canadian journalist Steve Paikin, Davies said that in his view, the NDP during the last election veered “too much from (its) class-based analysis to identity politics.” He said the party needs to find the “right balance” of those things. Asked by Kapelos whether the leadership contest criteria could be construed as exclusionary, or that it sends a message that identity politics remain central to the NDP, Davies said that interpretation is “wrong.” “There’s a difference between identity politics and inclusion,” he said. “All parties have rules in their leadership races where they require their leadership candidates to reach out to a broad range of people.” He pointed to the criteria for other parties to require nominations from across several regions of the country. “There is no ‘don’t’ or ‘can’t.’ As many people that want to nominate, can,” he also said. “It’s just that a minimum of the 500 required have to come from a certain group. There is nothing preventing anybody in this country, from any group, of signing nomination papers at all.” “This is just to make sure that there is a deliberate attempt to reach out to marginalized groups, people that are often left out of the process, so that we can bring people in, and that doesn’t take away rights from anybody,” Davies added. You can watch Don Davies’ interview on CTV Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.
