The federal NDP's self-described "mighty seven" members of parliament met in Courtenay during their caucus retreat to Vancouver Island to answer questions from party supporters.
On Sept. 15 Parliament will be back in session and the party's caucus gathered in the Courtenay-Alberni riding to strategize ahead of the session and decide what priorities to bring to Ottawa. Part of that included meeting with Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations in Port Alberni, which the area's MP Gord Johns said helped ground the party as they kicked off their discussions.
During the town hall session Sept. 10 in Courtenay, MPs acknowledged the party's poor showing in the 2025 election but said they will continue to push a progressive agenda. The NDP were reduced from 24 to seven seats and lost official party status.
"Right now the NDP couldn't be more relevant," Johns said. "People want to talk about us being wiped out, well that hasn't happened. Right now people need us more than ever."
Johns talked about housing, cost of living and supporting the economy while facing tariffs from south of the border as priorities for his party.
As the members of parliament introduced themselves to the few dozen people gathered at the Native Sons Hall, some had to look up the extent of their critic roles as each member has between three and seven critic portfolios.
Topics supporters brought up included everything from Indigenous language rights to the toxic drug crisis to the economy and more. The first question the party faced was why they aren't nominating candidates for the next election now, given there is a minority government and there may be a new election if opposition parties choose to defeat the governing Liberals.
"I think tactically and strategically, we should be nominating candidates as soon as possible," interim party leader Don Davies said, he talked about how there are processes the party must go through before able to nominate candidates. "There's a lot of things in politics we can't control but there's some things we can. And I think as a party that's one thing that I think that we can do a lot better."
Another question was on the topic of unions and back to work legislation the Liberals attempted to use on Air Canada union workers. Jenny Kwan, MP for Vancouver East, said the party will table a private member bill to push for the removal of the labour code that allows back to work legislation.
One person who asked a question of the elected officials said she is a survivor of the war on drugs and asked how the NDP wants to handle the toxic drug crisis.
Johns went to Portugal to see how they handled the crisis, he described it as "treatment on demand" and said the government there had the military to create facilities quickly and efficiently.
"Basically you go and you can get treatment for a year or two. They stay with you for four years in recovery. They see harm reduction is housing, is employment," Johns said of Portugal's response. He blamed biases and stigma for preventing governments from acting more strongly on the crisis. "I had biases coming into this job, I certainly wasn't where I am today 10 years ago. And it was a steep and hard learning curve."
Johns said the key to Portugal's success was lawmakers stepping out of the way and letting health experts make key decisions.
There was a question about the situation in Gaza where one attendee said they signed petitions and marched in protests in support of Palestine but feel like they are unheard. Heather McPherson said the Canadian government is complicit in a genocide.
"They need to put a two-way arms embargo in place," McPherson said. "The fact that the government continues to fail to sanction (Benjamin) Netanyahu (Israel's Prime Minister) and his cabinet is offensive. The fact that they refuse to recognize the state of Palestine, all of these things are offensive."
She said even as foreign affairs critic for Parliament's fourth party she has received more than a million emails on the topic from people across the country.
"They are Palestinian-Canadians, they are Israeli-Canadians, they are Jewish people, they are Arab people. They're people who are none of those things that so concerned about human rights," she said.
The Q&A portion of the evening went on for more than an hour and is something Bruce Adkins said he appreciated.
"I was re-energized knowing that this group of seven will do what it's going to take to get the party back to a stronger place," he said. Adkins is a strong supporter of Johns and helped campaign for him during the election. "Gord is an amazing parliamentarian and he's an MP for this area. He takes his job pretty seriously in supporting each and every one of us."
The NDP has also started its search for a new leader following its disastrous showing in the 2025 election which saw them reduced to those "mighty seven" seats from the 24 prior to the campaign. In that campaign, former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh came in third place in his Burnaby riding and resigned the party's top job. No candidates have been approved by the party as of publication.
