The Saskatchewan NDP won’t invite federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to its convention over his support of the Trudeau Liberals.

Sources with knowledge of the matter told the Leader-Post that party members voted against inviting Singh to the provincial party’s October convention. They will instead hear a video message from the floundering opposition leader.

Singh was not invited because some members are concerned his propping up of the Trudeau Liberals is hurting the provincial party’s chances of winning the next election. 

In a minority government, an election can come at any time. Because opposition MPs make up the majority of members, they can trigger an election by voting against the government on a confidence matter. 

The budget and the speech from the throne are always confidence matters. The government can also designate any bill as a confidence matter — a tactic sometimes used to trigger an election or force through a bill the opposition would otherwise not support.

But Singh has promised not to vote against the Liberal government until 2025 in exchange for Trudeau’s support on NDP campaign policies like dental care. The agreement has the federal Conservatives referring to the government as a Liberal-NDP coalition government. 

Ahead of the vote on whether Singh would be invited to attend the provincial convention, members discussed a 2020 report that examined the party’s loss during the last general election, the National Post reports.  The report urged the Saskatchewan NDP to take a tougher stance on the federal party on matters of provincial interests like pipelines. 

Sources told the Leader-Post that the decision not to invite Singh hands a win to the Saskatchewan Party, which has long attempted to tie the provincial party to the federal one. 

The recent federal Conservative leadership contender Roman Baber — the freedom candidate in the race which elected Pierre Poilievre — said grassroots NDP are turning on Singh because he’s keeping Trudeau in power.

“Jagmeet knows he’ll be held responsible for what the Liberal gov’t does. So will he save his Party or let the @NDP get decimated in 2025,” Baber tweeted.

Still, Singh’s embarrassment could have been worse. Members were also given the option to vote against any appearance from the federal leader.