Post-Election Questions: The NDP

For all the justified excitement about the NDP's national results, it's well worth looking at the outcome in terms of two separate developments.

Outside Quebec, the party continued its steady growth from the past few election campaigns, increasing its share of the popular vote in every province (other than Newfoundland and Labrador where it held nearly all of its vote share despite the absence of Danny Williams' ABC campaign) and narrowly eclipsing its previous high with 44 seats.

Inside Quebec, the NDP boosted its share of the vote by 30 points to soar from a single elected MP to a 58-seat romp.

Nationally, then, the way forward looks to involve continuing the progress the party has made under Jack Layton - this time, with four years to make it clear that anti-Harper voters across the country should unite behind the party with the strongest base in our most progressive province (a message which unfortunately didn't spread as far as would have been ideal during the campaign). But that means the big question is:

What kind of roots can the NDP set down in Quebec?

As the 2011 campaign turned out, the NDP seems to have nicely timed its strongest approach to Quebec ever: while it's been working on developing grassroots support for years, its national opponents seem to have mostly written off the province even as the Bloc lost any trace of energy or popular connection. And the NDP candidates who participated in that effort over the past few years should have an excellent chance of creating a base for the longer term.

But in order to hold and build on its current seat count, the NDP will need to fortify itself against a similar wave in somebody else's favour. And in addition to the points made by Marcus McCann as to how to fit in once they arrive in Ottawa, the surest way for the newly-elected Quebec MPs to accomplish that will be to ensure that they live up to the party's longstanding national brand as the hardest-working caucus in Parliament.

As some commentators have pointed out, the NDP has plenty of strong MPs from across the country to set positive examples for the new crop of elected representatives. And they'll have every motivation to put plenty of time and effort into mentoring their new colleagues - not just out of a sense of caucus solidarity, but also because any plan for an NDP government in 2015 will rely on at least holding the party's current position in Quebec. Not to mention that the young group of MPs would seem to have every opportunity to help shape the national debate for decades to come.

Which isn't to say there won't be some opportunity to replace members who don't meet the party's standards. (This would be the major plus in having an open nomination process, as potential candidates who may not have been willing to run before the NDP showed it could win seats will still have a chance to jump into the fray if a local MP can't match up to the party's expectations.)

In sum, the NDP now needs to convert its "travaillons ensemble" slogan from a popular pitch into a mantra for its new Quebec caucus. And if the party can firm up its Quebec support while continuing its progress elsewhere, then it should be in the lead position heading into the 2015 election campaign.