Beth Prokaska grew up in a home where NDP politics was in the air. Her mother was a legislative assistant for an NDP MPP in Toronto. Sometimes Prokaska would join her mother stuffing envelopes and canvassing.
“I had a taste of that as a youth. I think that is what sparked this.”
At 61, Prokaska, a lifelong music educator who stays in shape by boxing, is making her first foray into politics, as the NDP candidate in the federal riding of Carleton.
It is not an easy task in the traditionally Conservative riding held by party leader Pierre Poilievre since 2004.
The NDP has typically finished in third place in federal elections in the riding. In 2021, candidate Kevin Hua grabbed 11.5 per cent of the vote. He got more than nine per cent of the vote in 2019. Both years represented an increase over previous elections, where the party earned just over six per cent of the vote.
But, like many things in the world right now, NDP voter support has been affected by U.S President Donald Trump’s threats, tariffs and the Canadian response.
Nationally, the NDP has been losing voter support, according to polls, as Liberal support has grown. A recent Angus Reid poll had the NDP tied with the Bloc with seven per cent of votes. In 2021, the NDP won 17.8 per cent of the popular vote and 7.4 per cent of the seats in Carleton.
In this election, Carleton is seeing a strong challenge to Polievre from Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy. The riding is also the target of a protest by a group calling itself the Longest Ballot Committee. It says it wants to make a point about the need for electoral reform by flooding the ballot with candidates. As a result, there will be 91 names on ballots in Carleton, increasing the challenge for candidates without strong name recognition.
Prokaska argues that the NDP has a lot to offer people, especially during difficult economic times.
“As I have been going through Carleton and listening to concerns, what comes up most is affordability,” she told the riding debate televised by Rogers Television. “Liberals and Conservatives, as a result, are suddenly concerned about working class Canadians whereas making life affordable for all Canadians is what the NDP has always fought for. The NDP under Tommy Douglas is why universal health care was implemented in Canada years ago.”
During her 25 career teaching music across the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Prokaska says she would often advocate for families of the students who needed things like food, housing and social services.
That advocacy is something she brings to politics, she said.
She said she has been hearing from some people at the doors in the riding that they feel the need for change in Carleton. Some people she has spoken to have said “the representative they have had for the last number of years has not done them a lot of good.”
Prokaska has been listening to those concerns while meeting residents of the riding.
“I tell people what the NDP has to offer and what I have to offer. I know in the media we hear a lot about Donald Trump and tariffs, but one one-on-one at the door I am hearing more about affordability.” She noted that the NDP was influential in bringing in dental care and the having some drugs listed under pharmacare, “which will make life a lot more affordable.”
Some have encouraged progressive voters to vote strategically in ridings in order to defeat the Conservatives, but Prokaska said she feels strongly that this is the wrong approach.
“If we are a democracy, people should have the right to vote for whoever they want to vote for. If that is the NDP, that is who they should vote for. We are not a two-party system at this point.”
She also said she has mixed feelings about the longest ballot protest in the riding.
“First of all, anybody who wants to protest and does it in a peaceful way, I respect that.” But, she added that protesting electoral reform by flooding the Carleton ballot with candidates is “a bit like your kid is on the phone too much so you take away their bike. I am not sure I see the connection.”
Prokaska taught music to Grades 7 and 8 students for most of her teaching career, including running a school string program. She plays bass and is hoping to collaborate with a former colleague and member of Cirque de Soleil on music and movement.
She took up boxing as a way to keep fit and active and now boxes twice a week, in addition to other fitness activities.
“These kinds of things are as much for my mental health as my physical health.”
Prokaska describes herself as “a bit of an idealist” but concedes it is unlikely the leader of her party is going to become prime minister.
“But I think the more NDP MPs there are at the table, the better for everybody.”
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