Singh's Demise

Jagmeet Singh has done it. Yesterday he cancelled his agreement with the Liberals. Max Fawcett writes:

After months of speculation about the fate of the confidence and supply agreement that bound his party to the federal Liberal government and a few days of being taunted as a “sellout” by Pierre Poilievre, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh pulled the plug on the deal Wednesday.

“The Liberals have let people down,” Singh said in a video. “They don’t deserve another chance from Canadians.” In the process, though, Singh showed why he probably doesn’t deserve another one either. 

That doesn't mean there'll be an election tomorrow. The New Democrats simply don't have the resources they need to go into an election:

For all the bravado and bluster about how he “ripped up” the deal, it’s not like he actually intends to bring down the government any time soon. The NDP’s  provincial wings in British Columbia and Saskatchewn are in the midst of election campaigns of their own, and there simply isn’t enough volunteer labour to support a federal campaign right now. There’s also the non-insignificant matter of the NDP’s underwhelming bankroll, which has been dedicated to paying off the $22 million debt it racked up in the last election. If he tries to bluff Trudeau on a potential confidence vote, he should expect it to be called immediately. 

The party should be riding a wave. It's got a lot of what it wanted. And the Liberals have tanked:

With a tired and increasingly error-prone Liberal government, a Conservative leader who loves nothing more than getting high on his own supply, and a political environment that’s elevating issues like the cost of living and housing, the NDP should be poised to make major gains. Instead, they might be lucky to keep the seats they have if Singh remains leader — especially if they can’t establish themselves as the prevailing progressive alternative. 

That’s still on the table, by the way. A recent Abacus Data poll showed the NDP has both a larger potential vote universe than the Liberals and more opportunity to consolidate the progressive vote under its banner. “If it became clear that the NDP had the best chance of stopping the Conservatives from winning the election,” its analysis said, “we find that 11 per cent of committed voters or 35 per cent of Liberal, Green, and BC supporters would probably vote NDP, while 6 per cent of the committed electorate or 20 per cent of Liberal, Green, and BC supporters would definitely vote NDP.” If the two groups are combined, the NDP’s vote share rises to 35 per cent — just seven points behind the CPC. 

But that won't happen with an NDP leader who can't stand up to Poilievre who -- let's face it -- is the snotty-nosed bully on Parliament Hill.

Image: Obert Madondo / Flickr.