NDP will not be granted official party status: government House leader [Video]

Government House leader Steven MacKinnon says the NDP will not be granted official party status because the law says a party needs at least 12 seats to be recognized.

The NDP was reduced to just seven seats in last month’s election.

Interim NDP Leader Don Davies has told The Canadian Press he spoke with the Prime Minister’s Office about obtaining official party status for the NDP in the House of Commons.

Davies pointed to several past instances of provincial legislatures granting party status to an opposition party.

Without official party status, the NDP will not be allowed to ask daily questions in question period, will not be guaranteed seats on standing committees and will lose out on financial resources provided to recognized parties.

The NDP lost official party status in the 1993 election but it managed to regain it in the 1997 vote.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press

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