Don Davies

Don Davies is the NDP MP for Vancouver Kingsway and serves as Health Critic. He's been in Parliament since 2008 and has spent years pushing for pharmacare, dental care, and expanded public healthcare coverage. He was there when the NDP extracted the dental care and pharmacare commitments from the Liberal government as conditions of their supply-and-confidence agreement. Those programs are reaching people who couldn't afford dental care before. That's a real result from sustained advocacy. I disagree with anyone who says opposition politicians can't get things done. Davies is evidence that they can when they negotiate hard and stay focused.

Don Davies has introduced more legislation than any other MP — an impressive number. But the NDP's years propping up the Liberal government through confidence and supply didn't deliver what working people needed. Housing costs kept rising. Pharmacare passed but started very narrow. Dental care helped some people. The bigger picture — Canadians struggling to pay rent and buy food — didn't turn. Then Davies held his seat by 310 votes and became interim leader of a reduced NDP caucus. All those bills introduced, and the party ended up smaller and weaker for having supported a government that failed ordinary Canadians. Results matter more than effort.

Don Davies has been MP for Vancouver Kingsway since 2008 and became the NDP's interim leader following the party's reduced showing in the 2025 federal election — a role he assumed after holding his own seat by just 310 votes. That margin, in a riding he has represented for nearly two decades, reflects the credibility challenge the party now faces. Davies has an admirable parliamentary record: he has introduced more legislation than any other sitting MP, championed pharmacare, pushed for pension protection, and worked on student support. But activity in opposition and results for Canadians are not the same thing. The NDP's years in the confidence-and-supply arrangement with the Liberals did not deliver the housing affordability or cost-of-living change that working Canadians needed — and the electorate responded accordingly. Davies is now leading a smaller, politically fragile party through a critical rebuilding period. The record of legislative effort is real; the record of outcomes is harder to defend.