OTTAWA—Even Jagmeet Singh, a politician who carries himself as the embodiment of positivity, admits things were bleak for his New Democratic Party — very bleak, indeed.

At the outset of the 43rd federal election, Canada’s national social democratic party faced the prospect of annihilation. One source describes meetings in late summer where officials discussed how to avoid being reduced to a handful of seats. The party foresaw what could potentially be its worst election result ever.

Looking back during a recent interview with the Star in his West Block office, Singh says he knew “objectively” things were bad. Party finances had cratered, the Greens were poised for historic gains, and the Trudeau Liberals appeared entrenched on the centre-left, holding much of the progressive support the NDP would need for any hope of relevance.

“Factually, things were really tough,” Singh said, demarcating the stark reality of the material world from the buoyancy of his own feelings.

“But for me, I didn’t find it hard, because I don’t look internally at those moments,” he said. “I am a constant and relentless optimist. I always believe we can do better, we can always fight and push through. That is my spirit, that is my ethos.”

Two months after the Liberals returned to power with a minority government, Singh finds himself at the head of a party that was outwardly relieved but similarly diminished. There are now just 24 New Democrats in the House of Commons, down from 39 before the election. As one of three parties with enough seats to ensure government legislation passes the House, the task at hand for Singh and the NDP is to parlay their position into real influence during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s second mandate.

In the weeks after the election, Singh trumpeted a handful of “urgent priorities” and “challenges” for Trudeau’s government, which he presented as a list of policies the Liberals could pursue with support from New Democrats. None has been fulfilled.

On pharmacare, Singh says he worries the Liberals are preparing a “backstop” system that will just plug gaps in existing coverage, whereas his New Democrats favour a true “universal” public system that replaces existing coverage for everyone in Canada. The Liberals have not committed to pursuing this, despite near-constant demands from the NDP.

Similarly, the NDP has been pressing the government to drop its court challenge of an order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to compensate First Nations children and their families deemed to have been racially discriminated against by underfunded federal services. Despite agreeing to an NDP motion in Parliament calling for compensation, the Liberals have refused to drop the court challenge of the order, opting to pursue payouts through a class-action process they say will include more affected children.

But even though he hasn’t sat down with Trudeau since early November, Singh believes he can still exert influence over the Liberals by presenting them with policies that will earn NDP backing. He was glad, for instance, to see the Liberals’ throne speech included a passing reference to a public dental care program, another NDP platform promise, as an idea “worth exploring.”

“That’s really my leverage, is that, I think there will be a time — I hope — that (Trudeau) wants to do something national that’s in the best interest of all Canadians,” Singh said.

“I’m not looking at it as how do I make this government fall. I’m saying, ‘Here are my conditions for support. I’m ready and willing to work towards making life better for Canadians anytime you want.’”

Outside of Parliament, Singh’s NDP faces a different set of challenges. While the leader and his officials say they beat fundraising expectations during the election campaign (the returns aren’t yet publicly available), the party remains financially strapped. It closed out 2018 almost $5 million in the hole, according to its fiscal statement with Elections Canada, the same year the party took out a $12-million mortgage on the Jack Layton Building, its national headquarters in Ottawa.

Meanwhile, NDP fundraising has plunged from $18 million in 2015 to $4.9 million in 2018, its worst haul since 2011, the year of its historic “Orange Wave” election.

That limited the party during this falls’ election campaign — it did not run national TV ads, for instance, and travelled less by charter plane than the Liberals and Conservatives — and could pose a problem if the minority government collapses before New Democrats are ready for another election.

Singh is well aware of this, and says he is taking steps to help his party rake in more money from its supporters. He said he frequently attends meet-and-greet events, where he speaks to a crowd and then solicits donations. That’s one of four prongs for fundraising that Singh says the party is working to improve.

Before he became leader in 2017, the party’s phone and mail systems for fundraising were “losing money,” he said. “We took everything and turned it around, so things are now in the positive, and they were not for a long time.”

On top of that, in mid-December, the party announced it hired Anne McGrath as national director, a veteran organizer and adviser to Layton and former Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. McGrath has said turning around the NDP’s financial situation is her top priority.

But along with competing for influence in the Commons and scrabbling to fill its coffers, the NDP is dealing with a political map that has changed significantly since the beginning of the decade. The historic “Orange Wave” breakthrough in Quebec, when the party won 59 ridings, has been reduced to a single seat. And other than two reliable NDP ridings in Hamilton, it remains shut out in the entire GTA.

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Singh takes the same tack with these post-vote hurdles that he did with the bleak picture before the election: stay positive, and press on.

“I’m in it for people. New Democrats are in it for people,” he said. “I’m just going to keep on driving that message home so people can see the difference and make a choice that’s in their best interest.”

Mere weeks into the new session of Parliament, the latest test to determine whether Singh’s obstinate optimism can pay off has only just begun.

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