One of the questions we have always wanted to ask new democratic leader Jagmeet Singh is what makes him think he is a politician? When you have a question such as that, it is always best to just watch for a while. Now it can be asked. What ever gave this guy the idea that he had a career path in Canadian politics?
Singh has had more than enough time. His years in the Ontario legislature, including two years as deputy leader, was more of a comment on how poor a job provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath was doing rather than anything Singh did to help. And his first two years after swamping the federal NDP with Sikh sign-ups were wasted until he found a safe seat to contest in Burnaby.
It appeared that NDP MPs and benefactors were less than impressed with Singh, until into the 2019 election. It was during the federal election that the news media discovered him. He was colorful, controversial and convenient. He was usually off topic and accommodating, anyway. He could not afford to rent a plane and was more available.
But his response to the throne speech was his least political action to-date. He followed conservative Scheer’s lead and attacked it. He complained that the speech only paid lip service to the needs of Canadians. “What we’re seeing is a lot of pretty words but not concrete actions,” was his complaint.
But what did he expect? A throne speech is about expectations, not action. It is direction, not doing.
The problem in the NDP leader’s reaction to the speech is that he was giving no quarter. He was still in the nagging attitude of the NDP’s approach to electioneering. He wanted more but did not know how to get it. He wanted to show off for his voters but acted as though he was still campaigning.
This was the guy who lost the NDP’s previous gains in Quebec. He saw his caucus whittled down. He wanted to shout louder than the conservative leader. Instead of taking advantage of the liberal’s minority, he stayed in an attack mode instead of making himself useful. He gave what little ground he had left to the Bloc Québécois.
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Copyright 2019 © Peter Lowry
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