Jagmeet Singh’s formidable challenges
THE SPECTATOR’S VIEW
No doubt about it — Jagmeet Singh is the entire package.
He’s young at a time when youthfulness means something in politics. Look at how Justin Trudeau capitalized on his relative youth (he’s 45 now) and continues to do so. Also like Trudeau, Singh has charisma to burn. He’s personable, energetic, lights up a room, connects beautifully with people. Singh radiates confidence, especially for a politician so young — he’s 38. But while he has some swagger, he doesn’t let it turn into cockiness. Being Sikh, the son of Punjabi immigrant parents, Singh is a symbol of diversity. Canadian politics, and the NDP, benefit from that.
So good for the NDP. Party members could have made a safer leadership choice, like Ontario MP Charlie Angus. But they didn’t opt for the status quo, instead gambling on change with a leader who has yet to win a seat in Parliament.
But for all that, the party faces the same big, challenging and potentially polarizing questions the NDP faced under Tom Mulcair and Jack Layton before him. How do you transform a party of principle, conscience and social democracy, traditionally Parliament’s strongest opposition voice, into one that can legitimately challenge Trudeau’s Liberals and Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives? A party that can actually win?
How do you expand the NDP tent to include leftleaning Liberals and even some Conservatives without alienating the party base? Where do you position the NDP on the political spectrum? Trudeau’s Liberals have done a masterful job of covering the centre and left. Is there enough room for Singh’s party to manoeuvre? Can Singh out-Liberal the Liberals?
A big part of the NDP’s strategy over the next two years will no doubt be youth. Trudeau already demonstrated what a young, charismatic leader can do to appeal to millennials. Many moved into the Liberal camp, some never having been politically active before. Some, and if you believe opinion polls, many, are disillusioned with the Liberals — sunny ways campaigning is much different than governing. Could the NDP tap that youthful dissatisfaction in a campaign and on voting day?
The NDP is suffering from a relevance crisis that started long before Singh, Mulcair and Layton. What can it anchor itself to? The Liberals walked away from promised democratic reform, which seems to offer an opportunity. How about the gap between rich and poor? The Liberals have taken some steps — notably the Canada Child Benefit — but overall that challenge remains unmet. Could the NDP win ground there?
Canada’s political centre and left are crowded. Singh has two years to show he can elbow the NDP into some space. He’s impressive, but if he cannot do that, it won’t matter in the long run.