The NDP has been quietly allocated nearly $670,000 in additional funding to carry out its parliamentary work, giving the cash-strapped party a financial lifeline after losing official status last year.
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon stressed Wednesday that no new money was being used for the funding, which he said comes from a “reallocation” of the existing budget for the House of Commons.
A government official told Global News on background that the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Québécois agreed to a new funding formula that would allow the NDP to access resources despite its smaller size.
The official told Global News that such a funding formula for parties below official party status has not been done before.
Yet questions remain about where exactly the money is coming from and whether it will impact other government operations.
NDP parliamentary leader Don Davies said in a statement that the money will be used to support the caucus’ duties, mainly through hiring research and support staff.
“For the better part of a year, I have been advocating for resources to support the NDP’s parliamentary functions,” Davies said.
“This will enable us to better fulfill our parliamentary duties and reflect the 1.2 million Canadians who voted for us in the last election. In our view, this will help make Parliament work better for all Canadians.”
The NDP lost official party status after winning just seven ridings in last year’s federal election, dropping from 24 seats in the House of Commons.
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Parties need at least 12 sitting members to gain official status, which grants them additional financial resources and committee assignments as well as regular allotted time for question period. The amount of funding allocated to each party increases based on its size.
Documents published earlier this month, which were first reported Wednesday by Politico, show a section for “additional House officer budgets” for parties “with six or more Members elected in the general election” of 2025.
That threshold reflects the current size of the NDP caucus, after MP Lori Idlout crossed the floor to the Liberals last month.
The other main parties also received additional funding under the formula: the Liberals and Conservatives were each allocated $1,243,890, while the Bloc will receive $956,840.
Those amounts, as well as the $669,780 for the NDP, are “based on the number of Members elected” last year and are for the remainder of the current Parliament, the documents say.
MacKinnon said Wednesday that the decision came from the Board of Internal Economy, the governing body of the House of Commons that oversees financial and administrative decisions, after discussions between the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Québécois.
MacKinnon and Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer are co-spokespeople of the Board, which is chaired by Speaker of the House of Commons Francis Scarpaleggia.
“All parties on the Board of Internal Economy opted to reallocate,” MacKinnon told reporters in Ottawa while heading into Wednesday’s Liberal caucus meeting.
“I want to stress there’s no new funding involved here, and there was a reallocation that indeed gave some resources to the New Democrats.”
The government official who spoke to Global News could not say where the additional funding was being reallocated from within the House of Commons budget.
A spokesperson for the Speaker’s office deferred questions to MacKinnon’s office.
Davies served as the NDP’s interim leader between last year’s election and this past March, when the party elected Avi Lewis to replace Jagmeet Singh as its permanent leader. Lewis does not have a seat in Parliament and tasked Davies with leading the party in the House of Commons until the leader can run in a future byelection.
NDP officials said at last month’s convention the party carries a $13-million debt, making the new funds a boon for the caucus.
Davies’ advocacy for NDP parliamentary funds does not appear to have been debated during the Board of Internal Economy’s public meetings.
Scarpaleggia mentioned a letter from Davies “concerning resources for the NDP caucus” during a meeting in June last year, but a staff member indicated the matter was being discussed among party House leaders and that Davies would not be submitting an official funding request to the Board.
At a meeting in December, while presenting main estimates for the House of Commons for the upcoming fiscal year, staff indicated that the shift from four to three officially recognized parties had resulted in a $4-million reduction to House officers’ budgets and a $1.2-million increase to member operating budgets for “electoral supplements.”
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