After NDP breaks pact with Liberals, party president says N.L. will face a choice in election

Whenever a federal election is called, voters in Newfoundland and Labrador should cast their ballot for the NDP for change, says the party's president who also happens to be a candidate with a Liberal incumbent in her sights.

"This will be a 'change election' no doubt about it. The Liberals are not in a position, quite frankly, to be that change,"said Mary Shortall, echoing comments that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh made Wednesday when he pulled the plug on supporting Justin Trudeau's minority government.

"People will ask questions obviously of the candidates that are running for the election to see who best is going to meet the solutions that they need to get themselves out of this crisis that we find ourselves in," said Shortall.

Shortall will be one of those candidates in St. John's East, a former NDPstronghold that is currently held by Liberal backbencher Joanne Thompson in the next election, which could be called at any time, but which is expected by October 2025.

Singh upset national politics by announcing he was done with the NDP's supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals.

Shortall cast the NDP as a party that puts people first and has not caved to corporate interests, unlike the Liberals and Conservatives.

"We do not need or want further cuts," she said.

Shortall said Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has indicated he will cut programs like pharmacare, dental and employment insurance.The NDP has been hearing from people who are struggling to make ends meet and are feeling let down by the current government, said Shortall.

LISTEN | Mary Shortall spells out the NDP's frustrations with the Liberals:

St John's Morning Show9:31The NDP has ended their agreement with the Liberals; what could that mean for our province?

The federal New Democrats have ended their agreement supporting the Liberals.We asked party president, and Newfoundlander, Mary Shortall about what that could mean for this province.

"Both Liberals and Conservatives have been beholden to corporations for a long time," she said.

She said there wasn't a single issue that led Singh to end the agreement but a realization there are fundamental differences between the Liberals and NDP, though she said she's proud of what the agreement accomplished in its tenure, like movement on pharamacare and dental care.

Without the agreement, Shortall said the situation in Ottawa will be like a usual minority government

"The opposition parties including the party with the balance of power has an obligation to hold the government's feet to the fire, and they'll continue to do that."

'They smell blood in the water'

Alex Marland, who teaches political science at Acadia University, said people didn't expect the supply-and-confidence agreement to last indefinitely but some thought it would last longer.

"It was a shock. I'm still processing it all because it definitely changes things in Canadian politics for the foreseeable future," said Marland, a former Memorial University political scientist.

He isn't sure why the agreement ended now, but added that the NDP wasn't happy with how the Liberal party "'caved to corporate interests'" during a recent rail strike where a federal board ordered striking workers back to the job and imposed binding arbitration.

LISTEN | Political scientist Alex Marland describes how Jagmeet Singh's decision adds to Justin Trudeau's problems:

On The Go13:47NDP bails on confidence-and-supply agreement

Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has posted a campaign-style video saying he "ripped up" the NDP confidence-and-supply deal with the Liberals. To find out what this means we reach a professor with Acadia University's Department of Politics who has authored or was lead editor of over a dozen books on Canadian politics. (Krissy Holmes with Alex Marland)

The Conservatives were also pressuring the NDP by tying the Liberals and NDP together, added Marland.

Last week, Poilievre called on Singh to end the supply-and-confidence agreement, calling him 'Sellout Singh.'

"Overall, I think what they do is they smell blood in the water with a prime minister who is down in the polls, this is yet one more reason why it's going to be hard for him to govern," Marland said.

With the Liberals down in the polls, the Conservatives and NDP are changing their strategies, he added. "So now it's almost becoming a battle between the NDP and the Conservatives."

Marland doubts that Singh will be able to form a government but said the NDP message is about aligning the Conservatives and Liberals.

Marland said Singh's move poses moreproblems for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following announcements from some Liberal MPs includingSt. John's South-Mount Pearl MP Seamus O'Regan, a former cabinet minister who said they will not run in the next election.

"It makes it very, very hard to be a strong leader in the face of this type of circumstance," said Marland.

He added people can expect an "intense period" as people look ahead to when an election might be called.

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