Don’t count the New Democrats out. True, Canada’s social democratic party is in crisis. It is in terrible shape financially. It’s low in the polls and faces fierce competition from the upstart Greens.

Internally, there is widespread dissatisfaction with leader Jagmeet Singh. Portions of the party’s Saskatchewan wing are close to open revolt. In Quebec, support for the NDP is drying up. In New Brunswick, it is bleeding to the Greens.

Barring a miracle, the NDP is almost certain to emerge from the Oct. 21 federal election with fewer seats than the 44 it won in 2015.

Still, the party is not a lost cause. It has cobbled together a leftish platform focused on climate change, universal pharmacare and affordable housing. It hopes this will appeal to disgruntled left-leaning voters who feel betrayed by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.

In Toronto particularly, it is in a good position to win back some of the seats it lost in the 2015 Trudeau sweep.

It remains competitive in its traditional Ontario strongholds, such as Windsor, Hamilton and the north.

In British Columbia, it faces strong competition from Elizabeth May’s Greens. But the federal NDP may be able to counter this by building on the popularity of its provincial cousins, the governing B.C. New Democrats.

In recent days, much has been made of the fact the NDP has been slow to nominate candidates. Singh argues this is the result of the party’s insistence on fielding a slate that is ethnically and sexually diverse. Others within the party blame the delay on what they call the NDP establishment’s efforts to weed out those deemed too left-wing.

Whatever the motive, it is not clear that this delay will make much practical difference. In many of the ridings subject to nomination delays, the NDP has absolutely no chance of winning.

The NDP’s main asset in election campaigns has always been its organization on the ground — the motivated party volunteers, who canvass door-to-door, identify potential NDP voters and hand out lawn signs.

Even when the party has had little money for advertising, it has always run a good ground campaign. Unless the NDP rank and file have become utterly demoralized, they should be able to repeat the performance for this election.

Finally, the NDP is experienced in running a national third-party campaign. Except for 2015, when the party had a chance at winning power, that is what federal New Democrats have always done.

Their main competitors for the third-party slot, the Greens, have virtually no experience in running a comprehensive national campaign.

This was made evident in last week’s New Brunswick fiasco, when a small number of New Democrats agreed to publicly defect to the Greens.

This should have been a good news story for May. It provided evidence that her efforts to have the Greens replace the NDP as Canada’s party of conscience were working.

But it was bungled in execution. The number of defectors was exaggerated. Reached by reporters, some denied that they had quit the NDP. As well, the person chosen to speak for the alleged defectors suggested a religious motive — a general unhappiness in New Brunswick with the fact that Singh is a Sikh.

In the end, May was put on the defensive. Instead of being able to crow about new converts, she was effectively forced to decry racism.

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The NDP makes plenty of political gaffes too. Singh himself has made some doozies, particularly in regard to Sikh separatism.

But as a party, the NDP has been in the game a long time. Its seat numbers in the Commons have gone down dramatically before. They are likely to do so again this October.

But it keeps on slugging. Up to now, it has always bounced back.

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