CBC Edition

Leadership shakeup at the federal NDP as party gets election ready

The federal NDP is making leadership changes within its top brass to prepare for the next election.

Long-time New Democra‐ tic national director Anne Mc‐ Grath is stepping down as the party's top boss. McGrath will now serve as principal secre‐ tary to the party's leader in the House of Commons, Jag‐ meet Singh.

According to a news re‐ lease from the party, McGrath will play "a larger role in over‐ seeing" progress on the NDP's supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals. In March 2022, the NDP-Liber‐ al deal committed the Liberals to deliver on key demands from New Democrats in re‐ turn for support for key pieces of Liberal legislatio­n.

That deal, set to expire in 2025, still has deliverabl­es, in‐ cluding passing legislatio­n that could lay the ground‐ work for extending drug cov‐ erage to more Canadians or what's known as pharmacare.

The NDP national director is the CEO of the party and its operations at the party's headquarte­rs — the Jack Lay‐ ton Building in downtown Ot‐ tawa. They also oversee the NDP's fundraisin­g, staff hiring and strategic planning.

The role is also about building and maintainin­g rela‐ tionships inside and outside the party with the party's fed‐ eral executive and council, provincial parties, labour and the youth wing.

The national director also works closely with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his 24 MPs, often attending weekly caucus meetings on Parliament Hill.

Taking over McGrath's na‐ tional director role will be party stalwart Lucy Watson.

Watson rose through the ranks of the largest student organizati­on, the Canadian Federation of Students. She has also served in various se‐ nior roles with the British Co‐ lumbia, Ontario and the fed‐ eral NDP.

A statement from the NDP framed staffing changes as necessary for "building mo‐ mentum for the next elec‐ tion." It also suggested the next election as a two-way race between the NDP and the Conservati­ves.

"Anne McGrath and Lucy Watson have the experience and commitment we need to take on the Poilievre gut-andcut Conservati­ves and an outof-touch Liberal government," Singh said.

"[Conservati­ve Leader Pierre Poilievre] isn't the an‐ swer to the frustratio­n and disappoint­ment people are feeling toward [Prime Minis‐ ter] Justin Trudeau, and clear‐ ly, he's not interested in helping families in these diffi‐ cult times."