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NDP ranks swelled to record 128,000 during leadership race

Membership in the federal NDP has swelled by more than 50 per cent since the start of the party’s leadership contest last October.

OTTAWA — Membership in the federal NDP has swelled by more than 50 per cent since the start of the party’s leadership contest last October.

Final membership numbers released by the party show a historic 128,351 card-carrying New Democrats will be eligible to vote for the next leader.

British Columbia and Ontario will have the most influence over who becomes leader, home to 30 per cent and 28.6 per cent of the members respectively.

Although Quebec accounts for more than half the party’s 101 seats in the House of Commons, the province will have limited clout in the leadership outcome.

Quebec is home to only 9.5 per cent of the membership.

Still, NDP officials tout the fact that membership in Quebec has increased by 600 per cent, to 12,266 from an almost non-existent presence in the province last fall.