NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and his wife Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu at his election night headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., on Tuesday, October 22, 2019. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette) It’s shaping up to be a much different campaign for Jagmeet Singh this time around. Though the NDP leader has condemned the […]
‘Wildcards’: Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats say they’re running to win an election they didn’t want
It’s shaping up to be a much different campaign for Jagmeet Singh this time around.
Though the NDP leader has condemned the decision to hold a federal election during the pandemic — and even asked Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to consider refusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request to dissolve Parliament — Singh now gets a chance to show how much things can change in two years.
In 2019, the NDP leader — who had been elected to the House of Commons just eight months earlier — began the federal election campaign by butting heads with the Greens over a mass defection of former NDP candidates in New Brunswick to the rival party. His party was being handicapped by financial troubles and had to move quickly after many incumbents opted not to run again.
Still, Singh — the first member of a visible minority to lead a major federal party — was judged by many to have performed well in debates and on the campaign trail, particularly with his emotional response to past images of the prime minister in racist makeup.
The NDP won 24 seats that October — 20 fewer than in 2015 and a far cry from the “Orange Wave” days, but not the disaster some had predicted. The party fell to one seat in Quebec and fourth place in the House. Singh danced on election night all the same.
Now, with polls showing Singh with high personal ratings and performing very well among young Canadians, New Democrats say they’re confident they can be more than just a spoiler for Liberal candidates this time.
“We want to be the government. Jagmeet wants to be the prime minister,” NDP campaign director Jennifer Howard told CBC News. “That’s what we’re aiming for every election.”
Howard said the party has its campaign debts paid and is in a much stronger financial position than it was two years ago. The work NDP MPs did in pushing for more generous COVID-19 aid programs, she said, will matter when it’s time for Canadians to mark their ballots.
New Democrats have kept Parliament functioning during the crisis, she said, by passing confidence measures and moving along key legislation, such as the government’s climate bill.
“I think the prime minister has been trying to sell this line that Parliament is dysfunctional, that they can’t get things done. It’s blatantly false,” Howard said. “It’s blatantly, demonstrably false.”
NDP says Parliament is working
Singh said as much in a letter to Trudeau Monday, arguing that Parliament is working as Canadians expect it to. He urged Trudeau to recall the House instead of calling an election.
“If Parliament is dysfunctional, then you yourself have played a leading role in that dysfunction. Telling Canadians that a minority government can’t work is misleading and breeds cynicism in our democracy,” Singh wrote.
NDP strategist Brad Lavigne said Singh is shining a light on “the absolute cynical crassness that Justin Trudeau is showing by going to the polls now” without having first lost a confidence vote. In May, Liberals supported a Bloc motion that said it would be “irresponsible” to hold an election during a pandemic.
“Canadians will know this is Trudeau’s idea and not Jagmeet Singh’s idea. That’s not a bad premise to have established before the campaign starts,” he said.
The COVID crisis exposed cracks in the social safety net and highlighted inequality issues that have long been NDP priorities, Lavigne said, arguing Singh can speak to those issues with “authenticity.” The NDP is pushing for universal pharmacare and dental care and an annual tax of one per cent on families with wealth over $10 million.
“Nobody is clamouring for tax cuts. Nobody is clamouring for strict adherence to balanced budgets at this time,” Lavigne said. “Now is the time for activist government.”
