Aside from briefly electing a single member to the National Assembly (David Côté), it only played a minor role in Quebec provincial politics.

However, gains by the federal party— at first modest with the 2007 by-election in which Tom Mulcair gained the House of Commons seat in Outremont and then dramatic "Orange Surge" of the 2011 Canadian federal election— led to renewed calls for a provincial NDP in Quebec as an alternative to the federalist Quebec Liberal Party and the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois.

[5] However, by November 2012, Mulcair had changed his mind, believing that dividing the party's efforts between federal and provincial politics would be "extremely perilous."

The president of the Quebec Section, André St-Hilaire, agreed with his concerns, arguing their first priority was electing a federal NDP government.

Ducasse said it was "not in the plans" to have a structural link to the federal party, and the NDP's deputy national director confirmed they were not involved in reserving the name.

[12] For the 2018 provincial election, the NPDQ sought to re-establish a presence in the province by running a small campaign that focused on Fortin as leader.