Why some ‘frustrated’ NDP voters flipped to Conservatives in the election

The NDP saw its worst federal election results since it formed in 1961, but here's why some of the support they received in 2021 went to the Conservatives.

As Liberal red and Conservative blue swept across the country in Canada’s federal election earlier this week, NDP orange dwindled.

While many voters who left the party turned to the Liberals, many others flipped to the Conservatives —  with affordability being among the key factors.

In Monday’s federal election, the Liberals are projected to have won 168 seats — enough to form a minority government — and the Conservatives sit at 144.

But after winning 25 seats in the 2021 election, the NDP plummeted to just seven seats with their leader, Jagmeet Singh, among those who lost re-election.

And in ridings that flipped blue, union workers appear to have played a key role.

“What you’re seeing happening is this shift of people who are union workers who typically in the past might have gone NDP or Liberal,” said Terri Givens, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia.

“They’re frustrated with the last 10 years. They’re also looking for somebody who’s going to say the things they want to hear, and that’s something that Poilievre has really tried to do is to be the person who’s out there saying what people want to hear on things like housing and immigration and affordability.”

Windsor West is one such riding that saw a shift from the NDP to Conservative.