‘BATTLE FOR RELEVANCE’
DESPITE FLASHY NEW LEADER, NDP FACES A LONG, HARD ROAD
After his first faceto-face with reporters on Parliament Hill in October, one day after being named the new leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh went around shaking hands with the members of the press gallery.
It was a small gesture, but an unusual one — at once the mark of a leader who wants to stand out (and be loved), and something that only the new kid on the block would do.
The former Toronto-area MPP galvanized New Democrats across the country this year, sweeping to a firstballot victory in the federal party’s leadership race with nearly 54 per cent of the vote. But Singh, 38, is now at the helm of a party that’s been consumed by an identity crisis since its crushing defeat in the 2015 election — and that’s struggled to make itself heard even since his election.
As the NDP hope for better fortunes in the year ahead, the stakes are high for the new leader.
“The New Democrats are going to continue to battle for relevance, as they always do,” said Ian Capstick, a former NDP staffer and founder of PR agency MediaStyle.
In winning the leadership, Singh proved his ability to draw a crowd, to raise money, to marshal volunteers and get his supporters to cast ballots. But as a federal leader, he’s inexperienced and admits he’s still learning. “There’s been a marked increase in the intensity of my life as a public official,” he said in a recent interview, mentioning his bigger platform and heavier workload.
Singh’s also still working out how best to differentiate his party from the Liberals, who took much of the progressive vote in the last election. In the debate over Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s proposed tax reforms, which dominated political headlines throughout the fall, the NDP struggled to make its voice heard.
Karl Bélanger, press secretary to former leader Thomas Mulcair, said the NDP missed a chance to stand out as the party that sticks up for the little guy.
“This case is not being made strongly,” he said. “In fact, the Conservatives are often seen as benefiting from this debate while the NDP’s kind of being sidelined a little bit. And I think there’s an opportunity here, ahead of the 2018 budget, to build a strong case for the party.”
Capstick said the NDP needs to keep a “laser focus on the economy” if the party wants to maintain relevance in 2018, and should target issues that tap into pent-up consumer frustration, like high cellphone bills.
“Most people care about the environment … foreign affairs … structural barriers like racism, sexism, homophobia. Most certainly,” he said. “But more to the point, what everybody cares about is dollar bills in your wallet.”
That’s not the approach Singh’s favoured; he’s talked about wanting to decriminalize all drugs and expand health care to include pharmacare, possibly dental and eye care. “I want people to dig deeper and dream bigger and imagine the country we can build,” he said.
Singh needs to frame those policies differently, according to Capstick, to tie them more directly to people’s pocketbooks. “When we’re not clear about money, we don’t even get anywhere near the purse strings,” he said. “So you can say, ‘Let’s decriminalize all drugs.’ ‘What is that going to cost?’ is the next, most reasonable question and you need to have a solid answer for that.”
But Willy Blomme, Singh’s incoming chief of staff, said Singh’s willingness to push for controversial policies like decriminalization is one of his strengths. “It’s not necessarily a popular issue, it’s not necessarily top of mind, but it’s important in terms of doing public policy differently,” she said.
Blomme will officially join Singh’s team in January, having recently worked on Montreal mayor Valérie Plante’s successful bid for the leadership of her party. She’s one of several new faces joining Singh’s team, including a new interim national director, Melissa Bruno, formerly Singh’s chief of staff at the Ontario legislature.
To date, Singh has opted not to seek a seat in Parliament, instead spending time hosting so-called JagMeet & Greets across Canada.
“I think it’s really important that he travel the country,” Blomme said. “This is what Jack (Layton) did when he was first elected, and I think it was a really important first step in him building his leadership.”
The disadvantage, though, is that it can leave Singh out of the limelight when important news breaks. When the ethics commissioner announced last week that Trudeau’s vacation to the Aga Khan’s island broke conflictof-interest rules, for instance, Singh had to respond from a street corner in Toronto.
Then again, there haven’t exactly been any safe NDP seats up for grabs, through which he might enter Parliament. The NDP has lost vote share in all six byelections that have taken place since Singh’s election, though Singh has consistently said he can’t be held responsible for that with the limited time he’s spent as leader. “I was not surprised by the results,” he said. “I knew that it was going to be a long game.”
Bélanger said the last four byelections, which took place this month, were “very tough ridings for the NDP.” But he pointed to another byelection, to take place in the Quebec riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord next year, as an important test. The NDP won the riding in 2011, and lost it to the Liberals in 2015 by just 600 votes. “This time around, I think the NDP will need a good showing in that riding,” Bélanger said.
The party will also have to contend with Mulcair’s resignation, expected in June, from the Montreal riding of Outremont, formerly a Liberal stronghold. “They will need a good candidate, and they will need a good organization on the ground if they are to keep this seat,” Bélanger said. “Because the Liberals have always been strong in that seat, they’ve always been strong in Montreal, and they’ll do everything they can to take that seat away from the party.”
It’s not been smooth sailing for Singh. There have been missteps, including a suggestion to reporters that Indigenous judges needn’t be able to speak both official languages to be eligible for the Supreme Court, a comment he later had to walk back.
Still, “mistakes will happen,” Bélanger said. Where Singh is doing well, he said, is on the ground, talking to people — the part he’s always been good at.
“Overall, things could have gone much, much worse,” Capstick said. He reiterates that the party’s key to success in the new year is pocketbook issues. “If they can do that and stay away from all the other bulls--t of Parliament … then they should be in pretty good stead.”
MOST PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT … FOREIGN AFFAIRS … STRUCTURAL BARRIERS LIKE RACISM, SEXISM, HOMOPHOBIA. MOST CERTAINLY. BUT MORE TO THE POINT, WHAT EVERYBODY CARES ABOUT IS DOLLAR BILLS IN YOUR WALLET. — IAN CAPSTICK, FORMER NDP STAFFER