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NDP leadership contender Jagmeet Singh’s campaign says it has signed up more than 47,000 party members in the past 13 weeks of the leadership campaign.
That’s more than a third of the current membership that can vote in October.
The party released figures earlier Tuesday showing the NDP has 124,000 card-carrying members heading into the leadership vote.
In a statement released late Tuesday, Singh’s campaign team said most of that support draws from ridings the Liberals claimed in the last federal election.
“Most of this growth came from areas that the Liberals won in 2015, demonstrating the appetite for change across the country and Jagmeet’s ability to mobilize Canadians behind a re-invigorated NDP,” it said.
“In the GTHA [Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area] alone — an area home to 59 ridings, 54 of which are held by Trudeau’s Liberals — Jagmeet Singh signed up over 25,000 members. In the Greater Vancouver Area alone — an area home to 15 ridings, 9 of which are held by Liberals — Jagmeet signed up over 8,000 members. Jagmeet Singh signed up over 2,000 new members in Surrey-Newton and over 1,000 members in Surrey Centre, both of which are former NDP seats that the Liberals won in 2015.”
His support draws largely on more than 30,000 new members signed up by Singh organizers in Ontario and 10,000 in B.C. Of the 4,900 NDP members in Quebec, Singh’s team said it signed up close to 1,500 of them.
The statement said that his organizing team consisted of 3,259 volunteers, more than 1,147 “growth captains,” and 73 organizers led by two field directors.
We're successfully growing the NDP in riding-dense regions of Canada that we will rely on to form government:
— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) August 29, 2017
During the last party debate on Sunday in Montreal, when challenged by Charlie Angus on what he would do if he loses the race — run federally or return to Toronto — Singh twice said that he wouldn’t lose. These numbers no doubt fuelled that confidence.
Earlier today, Mainstreet pollster Quito Maggi said the party’s totals alone suggested that Singh is out performing his rivals.
Looking at the regional numbers makes me think @theJagmeetSingh is going to win this, maybe even win in QC #ndpldr https://t.co/iGexXa1JBK
— Quito Maggi (@quito_maggi) August 29, 2017
Even still, NDP leadership contenders will still need to make sure they can get out the vote for the October race. ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
Read more: Federal Politics
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