New Democrats will not be given official party status after falling short of the legal threshold required in April's election. Despite the party's prior hopes the Liberals may make an exception, Government House leader Steve MacKinnon shot down the idea pointing to the legal 12-seat requirement.

The NDP was reduced to just seven seats after a poor performance in April's election.

Failure to meet the requirement means New Democrats will not be able to pose daily questions during question period, will lose out on assured seats on standing committees and, perhaps most importantly for the party, will lose out on financial resources given to official parties.

Interim NDP leader Don Davies, however, remain hopeful of an exception to the rule. He said the party was having “fruitful discussions” with Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government, the National Post reported.

“We’ve already made some progress,” Davies said on Monday. “For instance, we have access to the lobby. We kept our offices.”

Though it only holds seven out of 343 seats in Parliament, the party "obviously has a balance of power” in the House of Commons, Davies added.

“I think that we're going to be able to play a profoundly important role in this Parliament,” the NDP leader asserted.

“I think that there is, as in every minority Parliament, a real opportunity for us to push and promote progressive policies and hold this government to account in a way that you can't do in a majority Parliament.”

The NDP cited examples of provincial legislatures making exemptions when parties have found themselves in similar situations.

“We inquired about that, the government doesn't seem interested in that,” Davies said of the NDP's efforts on that front.

The setback isn't the first time New Democrats have lost official party status, having lost it in 1993 before regaining it in 1997. Former leader Jagmeet Singh resigned following the party's disastrous April electoral result.

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