What does it mean for the NDP to lose official party status in Parliament?
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With the votes still being tabulated on Tuesday, it seems likely that the New Democratic Party, which had entered the election race with 24 seats in Parliament, will emerge with only seven. This would result in the NDP losing official party status. But what does that mean?
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What is official party status?
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In addition to the governing party and the official opposition, many Westminster-style parliaments (including Canada's) recognize additional parties.
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In 1963, with three of the four previous elections having resulted in minority governments, the government amended the Senate and House of Commons Act to provide an additional annual allowance to party leaders other than the prime minister and leader of the opposition. Party leaders were defined as Members of Parliament who led a party with a 'recognized membership of 12 or more persons in the House of Commons.' Thus, an official party needs at least that many sitting members in Parliament.
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He adds: 'The NDP didn't have a lot of time to develop a quote-unquote war chest for this election, and now they're going to have to continue more or less with all the exact same struggles that they've been dealing with, and yet with considerably less, actually virtually no support from Parliament for their party operations.'
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The relevant information regarding official party perks is spelled out in a document called Members' Allowances and Services Manual, published by the House of Commons, but it's not easy to navigate. To begin with, the term 'official party' only appears twice in the manual's 343 pages, when it refers to termination of national caucus research offices, 'in the event that the Member's party loses its official party status.'
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'What they mean by official party is spelled out in different language,' says Cochrane. 'The term that is used here for the most part is 'recognized party,' but that's what is meant by official party. And a recognized party starts at 12 members.'
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