'I wouldn't change a single thing:' Charlie Angus reflects on NDP leadership campaign

Now that the federal leadership race for the NDP is over, Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus is looking forward to getting back to his constituents.

Angus failed in his bid to lead the New Democrats, losing on the first ballot to Toronto MPP Jagmeet Singh. Singh will now take the helm of a party which finished third in the 2015 election, giving up 51 seats in the process.

• Jagmeet Singh wins leadership of federal NDP on first ballot

Angus, who has won his own riding five times,said he thought his campaign would at least have forced a second ballot.

"We're still crunching the numbers. We were pretty sure that thiswas going to a second ballot," Angus said. "There were a lot of problems with people getting their ballots, I know that, but I don't think that would explain [that] our numbers weren't as high as we thought they were going to be."

New leader has a 'strong mandate'

Despite the disappointment of the results, Angus says the party has spoken.

"We're going to do some examining of what went wrong on our side, but[Jagmeet Singh] came out with a strong mandate," Angus said. "So he's going to be well equipped to take on the leadership."

Angus also said his team worked tirelessly during the long campaign, made extra-long by the death of Angus' sister Kathleen in August.

• Charlie Angus takes short leave from NDP leadership race after sister's death

"I wouldn'tchange asingle thing. We presented a vision that was positive, spoke about the growing issues of class inequity in this country," he said.

"I love the team we built and the sense of community.I'm very pleased."