Rachel Notley

Jagmeet Singh didn’t touch on oil, pipelines, or energy development when he addressed hundreds of NDP delegates at a national convention in Ottawa on Saturday. Rather, in a speech punctuated often by delegates standing to applaud and cheer “NDP” or “Jagmeet Singh,” the federal NDP leader focused first his policies for taking on economic inequality, then racism and intolerance.

New Democrats from across the country will begin gathering in the national capital on Thursday, hoping to lay the groundwork for victory in next year's federal election — and to confront deep divisions and challenges within their party.