Former London NDP MP striking optimistic tone about party’s future after election defeat [Video]

Former London MP Lindsay Mathyssen is expressing optimism about the future of the federal New Democrats despite the party’s historic election defeat and the loss of leader Jagmeet Singh, which she says highlights a need for electoral reform.

Mathyssen’s riding of London—Fanshawe was among more than a dozen seats the NDP lost in last week’s election, a crushing blow that also left it without official party status in Parliament. 

“We do have a lot of conversations to have,” as a party, Mathyssen said in an interview Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live. “This will be another rebuild. People have tried to ensure that there isn’t a New Democrat voice across this country. That’s happened before, and we always come back.”

She acknowledged the party has a lot of work ahead in staging that comeback, but the party is capable, and the seven NDP MPs elected “will work with everything that they have.” They …