Most Canadians don't think of Jagmeet Singh as a potential prime minister. And they have history on their side. Michael Harris writes:
It is true that, despite a run of impressive leaders, the NDP has never won a federal election since its creation in 1961. To mention just a few, Tommy Douglas, David Lewis, Ed Broadbent, Jack Layton, and Tom Mulcair were never able to deliver the goods—despite strong showings on their individual leadership qualities in poll after poll.
But in Singh's case, Harris believes things might be different:
In a recent Ipsos survey, pollster Darrell Bricker found that 54 per cent of respondents wanted Justin Trudeau to step down in 2023. The same poll found that 59 per cent had an unfavourable view of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. This is not a ringing endorsement of either of the two traditional parties that have ruled the roost in Canada since Confederation. In the same poll, Jagmeet Singh scored the highest approval rating of any federal leader at 53 per cent.
Canadians have good reason to be disappointed in both the Liberals and the Conservatives:
Despite some very impressive accomplishments, the Liberals are beginning to make the kind of unforced errors characteristic of a government running out of steam. Chequebook politics is making them look like people who can’t manage a troubled economy, an impression reinforced by former Liberal insider Bill Morneau’s unflattering portrait of the prime minister in his new book.
With a possible recession on the horizon, and rampant inflation breaking budgets from coast to coast, post-COVID grumpiness has reached a new high. The usual casualty of such oceanic disgruntlement is the incumbent government, whether or not it is to blame for the problems.
People are prepared to forgive flip-flops, like the PM’s stunning reversal of his policy on first-past-the-post elections, and on buying the controversial F-35 fighter jets. But scandal is another matter. If it should be shown that there was hanky-panky in the $100-million worth of contracts awarded to the U.S. firm McKinsey and Company, or corruption in contracts let out of the offices of Liberal cabinet ministers, the bloom could go off the Trudeau rose in a hurry.
And Mr. Poilievre is far from being a rising star:
Pierre Poilievre, who feeds off the anger of the disaffected, failed his initial test as leader when the CPC lost the first byelection under his watch. The party’s candidate not only lost to the Liberals, he was thrashed, losing by 20 points. That said, the turnout in Mississauga Lakeshore was just 26 per cent.
In Quebec—like Stephen Harper before him—Poilievre has so far been a flop. A recent Angus Reid poll found that 44 per cent of respondents strongly disapproved of the new Conservative leader. Only eight per cent held strongly favourable views of Poilievre.
He came out in favour of a mob of truckers who gave Canada its own version of the Capitol Building riot.
And his claim that crypto currency might be the way for Canadians to opt out of inflation is absurdity in hot pursuit of farce.
So there may be an opening for Singh. Harris believes there will be an election this year. As for Mr. Singh, we'll see.
Image: CBC
12 comments:
Politics must change in this country as well as all attitudes from leaders or voters. Harris makes a very interesting argument and I for one think its about time we look at the choices more closely and make those choices without fear of flipping the vote. We must be strong in our commitment to welcome an historic change. I have lately had to protest vote but that has been wasteful in view of my choice becoming very unorganised to say the least. I was raised in Oshawa and lived with the hope of a Broadbent government my whole life and as a working class person always believed in a Labour movement. We must get back to those roots again. we must remind our politicians to remain on a clear message and not waiver from a more Socialist approach. The real root of the problem is greed, capitalism, a lack of disregard for working poor and this idea that everyone must pull themselves up by their bootstraps. The world is becoming a brutal place.
It's becoming a brutal place, zoombats, because lots of us appear to believe that selfishness is a virtue.
"The real root of the problem is greed, capitalism, a lack of disregard for working poor and this idea that everyone must pull themselves up by their bootstraps. The world is becoming a brutal place."
Zoombats has identified some important element in not only Conservative thinking but also Liberal. I doubt that Trudeau has ever met a corporate entity he didn't like, just judging by his reluctance to make meaningful taxation reform.
I will certainly be considering the NDP in the next election.
"All your Immigrations are Us", every thing you might not want to know about Mckinley. Its in a B.C. bloggers articles recently, Pacific Gazetteer by RossK. Turns out Trump used the company and they came up with all those disgusting ideas about the inhuman treatment of people coming into the U.S.A. and put into concentration camps, seperated parents from children, reducing the amount of food provided to the people to save money. One could consider the company a violater of Human rights. The federal Liberals need to put as much distance between themselves and this company. Spending our tax dollars on them is disgusting. RossK also refers to articles in ProPublica about this organization.
Usually governments are looking to save money when they hire them, but given their political leanings--working for trump to deprive people of their human rights, if governments want to save money just ask front line staff how to improve things.
McKinley was so intrenched in the trump adminuistration that they wrote their own contracts, they approved their own contracts, etc.
One could say the hiring of McKinley is a low we can not abide. We didn't vote for the McKinley corporation to be the government of Canada, we voted for the liberals.
As I recall when Harper was elected it was because of some scandal the Liberals had gotten into along similar lines--contracts, etc. The two M.P.s who let contracts to people who are a tad too close to them for my comfort, need to resign or be fired or they are giving PP a lovely gift with which to win the next election. Awarding contracts to compnies which are related to staffers of the M.P.s or close friends is too much. We know how it ends.
If Trudeau doesn't fire McKinley and these cabinet ministers he may find he is fired by the voters of Canada and I for one am not looking forward to PP being P.M. As to Singh becoming P.M. as leader of the NDP, it is doubtful that will happen. He would have a better chance at it if he was the leader of the LiberALS.
Morneau reminds me too muchh of Paul Martin. Their interest is balanced budgets and not the impact of that on the citizens of this country. there is enough money, we don't have to cut programs, we need to re write some of our taxx laws. At the start of the year, one of the newspapers advised once again how some CEOs in Canada made more money in the first 3 hours of the year than other Canadians made in the whole year. That money needs to be taxed, we need to stop subsidizing big business, etc.
We have a growing group of people in this country becoming homeless, they're seniors. Why, their pensions don't provide enough money for them to pay rent and food. That needs to change.
Time to move along, thanks for letting me rant.
I suspect you won't be alone, Lorne.
I think you mean McKinsey, e.a.f.
So where to you stand on bank bailouts? And the --forcing of taxpayers to pay ISDS lawsuits to make taxpayers pay for 'lost profits'? Said to be run by star-chambers of 3 corporate lawyers ---(set into all global trade agreements), see bilaterals.org. ISDS clauses were set up to circumvent any Parliamentary system of laws and regulations which all businesses normally operate by when uses Canadian land/water/air. And thus, must adhere to any given law or regulation dealing with these uses.
Also I'm curious as to how you view the 180 degree flip, where globally in a very short time--unions (who have contractually taken dues for decades) are now working illegally with politicians to permanently suppress employees incomes?
As well, how do you see the 265 billion dollars, tailing ponds pollution fiasco, being dealt with? First, there were signators that promised to resurface all tailing ponds --but as yet no one is suing or put forth a plan to at least begin the clean up (all the while the ponds on leaking into the Athabasca River and surrounding waterways.
And since we appear to be stifling opposing comments what do you believe is the US strategy after razing the Ukraine, then destroying Russian authority, then finally off to take on China? At least this is some of the assertions being discussed without any input for those who simply wish to breath and work to tend to their families...
There's a lot in there, Marg. I really don't know anything about ISDS lawsuits. I'll have to do some digging. As far as your other topics go, how are they related to today's post? What is the connection between Singh and the issues you raise?
i’m an astonishingly impertinent impediment ..
I don’t and won’t ‘vote a Party’.. much less a Political Leader
Last I looked (and why bother)
the daily multitude of ‘political polls’
are water off this particular duck
Sometime ‘On or Before October 20, 2025’
I will be eagerly examining the various Candidates
of our particular Federal Riding ..
the ‘communist’ ? a Lib, a dipper, the strange Pet Woman
.. no Conservative here.. they ‘just don’t care’
I’ll size em up
Meanwhile I intend to savage Pierre Poilievre
via rock solid historical refreshing, current facts - too
& the omnipresent daily blathering on Social Media
.. a historic creeping & creepy barrage
of pandering, posturing & arrogance
& all fair n square eh ! No hysterical partisanship
yet it’s pretty clear.. he’s ‘the greater of evils’ or weevils
and by far and away away ..
I do not foresee a federal election in 2023, nor a imminent NDP gov't.
Like you, PoV, I'm skeptical. But we'll see what happens.
But it's worrying to see the support he does garner, sal.
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