A leadership race and harassment allegations are among the factors that contributed to the NDP’s poor showing in Monday’s byelection, Jagmeet Singh says.

“The problem is we had a lot of time where we weren’t there, for a few years,” the NDP leader told reporters Tuesday.

“We had a period of time where we had a leadership race and that takes away from your ability to have a clear leadership in directing the work, so we’ve had some difficulties and we’ve got some work to do.”

In the last few months there has been not one, but two harassment allegations against members of the party. Erin Weir was booted from caucus in May after an investigation found one accusation of harassment and three accusations of sexual harassment against him were supported by evidence. NDP MP Christine Moore is currently under investigation for sexual harassment allegations made against her by a witness at a committee she sits on.

When asked if the allegations also contributed to the NDP’s lack of presence leading up to the byelection in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, Singh acknowledged that addressing the claims within the party was a distraction for him.

“I’ve had different crises to manage and that obviously takes away time and effort from other areas, so that’s definitely been a part of the struggles we’ve faced,” he said.

The Conservatives’ candidate won the riding with 52.7 per cent of the vote. The party hasn’t held a seat in the riding in more than 20 years.

“Clearly yesterday was a great night for us in Chicoutimi. We haven’t won that seat since the 90s. It’s the result of over six months of hard work by our candidate, Richard Martel, an extraordinary, hard-working, well-known member of the community,” Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said.

“[It’s] also [a result] of over a year of hard work for our entire team and our Quebec caucus in particular, putting forward a plan to appeal to a broader audience of Quebecers.”

The Liberals finished second with just under 30 per cent of the vote, while the NDP finished a distant third, winning just 8.7 per cent of the vote.

It’s a riding the NDP won in 2011 and finished in a close second in 2015.

“At the end of the day, the issues that we raised — it’s clear that we’re not penetrating and we’re not connecting with the people. We need to make sure that our message resonates with people,” Singh said.

Quebec NDP MP Matthew Dubé agreed that the distractions the party faced were unhelpful.

“As important as the internal issues are to deal with appropriately and in the proper way, the fact remains that dealing with those issues is taking us away from the work that we’re here to do and the work that people in ridings like Chicoutimi-Le Fjord are looking at us to do,” he said.

Fin Donnelly, an NDP MP representing a B.C. riding, said the distractions affected Singh’s ability pay attention to Quebec issues.

“It certainly hurt our leader. He was thrown off his game and wasn’t able to devote as much attention as he would’ve liked to the province and to the riding. That’s a reality when you’re a leader, when you’re a party, national issues — you get internal issues, domestic issues, things that will take you off your course, but we’re going to regroup and look forward to 2019 work well.”

As for how to refresh the party’s approach in Quebec, Singh said “everything’s on the table.”

“It’s clear that this result is problematic, this is not something that is acceptable.”

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