Jagmeet Singh Sold the NDP to Trudeau, For Free

Jagmeet Singh over the past month has found himself presented with several opportunities to not just be the leader of the fourth largest party in Parliament and actually grab control over the political situation in Canada and gain some victories for the NDP. 

Singh could have played the role of the kingmaker in Canadian politics; putting pressures on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to do what he and the NDP want under threat that investigations will heat up if demands are not met, and if Trudeau panics and calls an election, then so be it.

Instead Singh petrified of a new election has essentially sold all of the NDP’s votes to the Liberals for free, as long as Trudeau declares every motion he wants passed to be a confidence motion, likely only because he knows Singh is unwilling to call his bluff.

So due to Singh’s inability to stand up to the Liberals’ political pressure, a new committee with increased powers to investigate Trudeau won’t be formed, which only helps in implicating Singh and the NDP in the coverup.

Many speculate that Singh cannot defy Trudeau because the NDP does not have enough money to currently mount a new election campaign, which would be true in a typical year, but because of COVID-19 restrictions it is cheaper than ever to campaign as more of the campaign will be done online than on the road than usual. 

It also would not hurt Singh and the NDP to get increased media attention by clashing with the Liberals and being the ones that are best positioned to keep the Liberals in an uncomfortable limbo regarding the investigations into the WE Charity scandal, in order to drag more concessions out of the Liberals and likely gain in the polls.

This all goes to show that not all politicians are leadership material. Singh may have been an effective MPP in Ontario but despite now being the federal leader of the NDP he still lacks the assertiveness and leadership qualities to make hard decisions and stick to them. 

Regardless of the criticisms of his policies and deep personal flaws Trudeau is an actual leader who likes to take risks, just look at all of the scandals he has been caught in for evidence of that. 

Conservatives justified in disdaining Trudeau’s careless management of the economy, but it must be said that in spite of how economically illiterate as it was for his 2015 campaign to promise deficit spending in spite of all conventional political wisdom it was a very risky play for votes that helped differentiate the Liberals from the NDP and Conservatives.

Singh is a leader who is simply not made for this political moment. He is seemingly unwilling to make any moves fearing they will fail not realizing Trudeau will simply make the moves for him. Trudeau knows that Singh lacks the political backbone to stop him, even if what he is pressuring Singh to do will damage to the NDP.

Singh may feel safe and secure from all political harm simply carrying water for the Liberals, but he seems to not realize how interchangeable NDP and Liberals voters are. If Singh allows Trudeau to lead the NDP then NDP voters may as well vote Liberal instead, as Singh is no more than just a political middle man between his voters and Trudeau.

It would not be a major shock to see Singh come under an intense leadership review at the next NDP Annual General Meeting and potentially get replaced by a more hardline union NDP leader, as the hyper progressive base Singh has cultivated has not been a proven election winner in the past let along after what he has done in recent days.