Photo: The Canadian Press

A polling and political analyst says the New Democrats need to decide whether they want to be the "conscience of Parliament" or win an election.

Philippe Fournier of 338Canada.com says polls consistently show that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is more popular than either Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole.

But he says the party must win over suburban voters and attract Liberals tired of the ruling party to stand a chance of forming government.

The NDP elected just one more MP in last year's election, despite spending $25 million on the campaign, and did not gain enough support in the suburbs to come within reach of power.

The NDP caucus is wrapping up a three-day virtual retreat to talk about priorities, policies and strategy for when the House of Commons resumes sitting at the end of the month.

NDP MP Charlie Angus says levels of insecurity felt across class divides are changing the political discourse in Canada, which he says the party well placed to address.