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If the federal NDP loses party status in the House of Commons after the Oct. 21 vote — unthinkable a decade ago, but at least worthy of discussion now — fingers will be pointed at what’s gone on in Saskatchewan.

Certainly, theErin Weir saga in Regina Lewvan speaks to a dysfunctional federal party lacking political organization, talent and focus and seemingly incapable of getting its internal affairs in order.

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But these were problems in the making long before Jagmeet Singh … or Thomas Mulcair or even Jack Layton. That the NDP may lose party status is a bigger story of a party wandering aimlessly for so long it no longer has any idea where it’s going.

However, before we wander too far off path ourselves, let us recognize it’s only a remote possibility that the current 39-member federal NDP caucus will be reduced to less than the 12 seats required for party status. With 12 and 14 MPs, respectively, in B.C. and Quebec and pockets of support elsewhere in the country, it can be argued that there’s virtually no chance the NDP will fall that low.