Fourteen former NDP candidates and a federal party executive in New Brunswick staged a mass defection to the Green party on Tuesday, just days before the federal election campaign is expected to kick off.
The group of candidates who ran in the last New Brunswick provincial election submitted their Green party membership applications at a press conference in Moncton, where departing NDP executive Jonathan Richardson explained he feels the NDP is no longer the right vehicle for progressive change at the federal or provincial levels.
In an interview with the Star, Richardson pointed to how the Greens have three seats in the provincial legislature, while the NDP have none. He said the federal party has also overlooked the province due to limited resources and a perceived low chance of winning seats there.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has not visited New Brunswick since he took over as leader in 2017, and the party has not nominated a single candidate in the province, less than two weeks away from the start of the campaign.