Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

A look at the NDP as it prepares for the fall sitting of Parliament

Sep 12, 2016 | 2:45 PM

OTTAWA — The federal NDP caucus meets in Montreal this week to prepare for the fall sitting of Parliament. Here’s a look at the party by the numbers:

— The NDP holds 44 seats, down from 95 when Parliament was dissolved for last October’s federal election.

— The party, which was polling around 32 per cent support in the run-up to the election, captured only 19.7 per cent of the vote at the polls, dropping to third place in the seat standings. In recent months, poll support has been running well below that mark.

— In the second quarter of 2015, the NDP raised almost $4.5 million from more than 48,000 donors, its best quarterly showing ever, both in terms of money and the number of donations.

— In the second quarter of this year, the NDP collected $1.08 million from 15,906 donors. In the same period, the Conservatives brought in $5.07 million from 37,223 donors and the Liberals, meanwhile, received $4.9 million from 36,080 contributors.

— NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, who went into the last election as a potential contender for the prime minister’s job, has been reduced to a placeholder. The NDP convention last April voted 52 per cent in favour of a leadership contest, with Mulcair promising to stay on as interim leader until a replacement is chosen in 2017.

— When the new boss comes on board, the party will have gone 18 months under a lame-duck leader.

The Canadian Press