INSIDE THE MIND OF INSIDERS — Like a lot of people, NDP National Director ANNE MCGRATH was shocked by the results in Toronto-St. Paul’s. “It's clearly a message to the Liberal government that people are feeling like they're not getting what they need from this government,” McGrath said Tuesday in a phone interview. The NDP hold the riding provincially so Playbook was curious how party HQ is taking stock of the results — and how it’s shaping longer-term election plans to target Liberal seats in Halifax, St. John’s East, Toronto-Danforth, Toronto Davenport and the Edmonton area. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. How are you interpreting the results in Toronto-St. Paul’s? I personally was a bit shocked by the result because there had been signals from both the Liberals and the Conservatives that the Liberals were going to win. It’s a very long-time Liberal stronghold — the Liberals have survived those ups and downs in that particular riding. Everyone knows affordability is a key issue on voters’ minds right now and they're seeing their grocery prices continue to rise. It continues to be next to impossible to find affordable housing — that's what's on voters’ minds. And they don't see the action they need from this Liberal government on those things. I was just revisiting the 2022 Mississauga-Lakeshore byelection — tracking GTA ballot-box issues then and now. Capital gains, Israel-Gaza … There's definitely some particular ones in Toronto-St Paul's. And you're right, those are two I would for sure identify. Can you identify other new issues that divided the vote — ones that are more hot topics now than in December 2022 when the Liberals won that GTA riding? It's a combination of the things everybody is worried about, as I was saying before about affordability, cost of living, the kind of feeling the Liberal government is out of touch and out of gas. There was a very strong desire for change. Despite the fact it seems the local candidate was trying to distance herself somewhat, still, people wanted to send that message. There's a lot of economic anxiety, worry about families, all of those kinds of things. One would imagine it would be a bit of a wakeup call for the government. I'm sure they will have a lot of thinking to do about what happens next. Is it also a wakeup call for the NDP? You’re bound to the Liberals by SACA . That perception on the ground that the Liberals are out of touch, out of gas — what does this mean for the fate and durability of that deal? The only things people are getting that brings any relief come from the things we've pushed the government to do. Things like dental care, free birth control, diabetes medication and devices. If you listen to a Cabinet minister, for instance, talking about things they've accomplished, they're all things we pushed them to do. For the NDP, we have to keep our eye on the ball in terms of making sure we’re working for Canadians and getting things Canadians need. There are other by-elections coming up in places like LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in Montreal, where [NDP Leader] JAGMEET SINGH is knocking on doors and mainstreeting with our candidate. Halifax is another one potentially coming up. We're going to be campaigning hard. And of course, Elmwood-Transcona is a seat that was held by us, where we have a great candidate, a great team, lots of enthusiasm and energy and a newly elected NDP government. Toronto-St. Paul's definitely sent a signal. But for us, it was a long-time Liberal seat. I will point out to you that the NDP never came in second in that riding. But it’s interesting the riding is held provincially by the NDP and now federally by Conservatives. You mentioned the Liberals have been listing their wins, taking credit for dental care, diabetes medication and devices — so you already have those NDP wins. What's the disadvantage of cutting from the SACA deal early? [Laughter.] I'm not breaking any news to you when I say that one of the biggest issues with the Liberal government is implementation. We've had to push very hard. If we had sort of declared victory when the dental care started to roll out a couple years ago, we would have been very mistaken. The resistance to actually rolling out these programs in a way that actually meets the needs and meets the test, has been pretty strong. We have to really, really hold them to account all the time to make sure we're actually getting these things out the door. | 
