Jagmeet's Pharma Poison

On Singh's Lies

The week Rachel Notley was elected as Premier of Alberta has always stuck in my mind, for a variety of reasons. It was the week my Grandfather died, it was the week I did Mock Trial at the Ottawa courthouse with my high school, and it was the week David Cameron won a shock majority government. As the massive nerd I was then (and remain to this day), the existence of two interesting elections was a blessing – it gave me something to focus on that wasn’t the crushing blow of losing a man I loved deeply.

At the funeral the Friday morning, there was only one eulogy. It lasted less than a minute and used the fact that both the eulogy giver and my grandfather had played in charity golf tournaments with Jean Beliveau as some sort of “full circle” moment. (I genuinely wish I was making this up, but I am not.) It was completely the wrong tone for the event, and yet none of us were particularly surprised.

It’s the only thing I can think of when I see what Jagmeet Singh posted today, calling the Liberals “Big-Pharma backed” and saying that he is “up against the Liberals” to deliver Pharmacare … on the morning it’s officially revealed there’s a deal between the Liberals and NDP on the policy. He has won, and is continuing to throw punches like he’s being blocked. He’s lying to the Canadian public, because he’s both saying the Liberals are about to do this big thing that justifies voting for their continued existence while also saying they’re frauds who won’t do anything.

As a strategy, it’s insane, because all it’s doing is pissing off soft Liberal-NDP switchers who like Pharmacare and dislike you shitting on them, without winning you any votes from people who don’t like this Liberal government. As a statement of truth, it’s disinformation, which is allegedly a thing the NDP and the broader left are supposed to give a shit about. And it’s clearly not working, because despite 59% of Canadians saying it’s definitely time for a new government in this morning’s Abacus, the NDP are only up a point since 2021 nationally and would probably lose seats if that poll was born out, eyeballing the regionals.

So what is this all for? It’s not for the people who will now get insulin and contraceptives covered under this scheme, because if you actually cared about the issue you’d be holding a joint press conference extolling the virtue of the Liberal government. If it’s about political advantage for the NDP, you’d have never signed a deal with the Liberals in the first place because any deal instantly jeopardized a dozen NDP MPs in places where the Liberal brand is about as popular as drinking one’s own piss (see why the NDP are about to get wiped out in non-Vancouver and Victoria BC). And if it’s about the political advantage for the broad left, then Jagmeet would be spending his time attacking the Conservatives. But it’s not about any of that, because that’s not what the modern NDP is about.

The unsaid truth of Canadian politics right now is that people in every party but the NDP keep asking each other when Jagmeet is going to be replaced. Everyone, whether it’s Liberals or Tories or even the few Blocists I know, is convinced that the NDP’s decision to keep this sanctimonious fool in this job is a disaster. And yet they won’t fucking do anything, because for some reason it’s uncouth to say anything mean about him. I’ve had respected people in the NDP tacitly admit I’m probably right about Jagmeet, but because of the language I use about him, they won’t countenance sharing my various columns saying so in public or share it with others in the party. I’d say it’s a cult, but at least cults have a proper understanding of what they’re trying to achieve.

So let’s have an honest conversation right now, in the safe space that is one of the only sites that will properly air this out. What in the name of fuck is the point of the NDP if they can’t take a win without shitting on the Liberals?

…

Getting the Liberals to a firm place on Pharmacare is a legitimate accomplishment that will do a lot of good (if they manage to get any provinces on board before Poilievre wins, which is, uh, uncertain). I am supportive of that goal, and I am glad that the NDP exists as a vehicle to push the Liberals left. Once again, I voted NDP in 2021. This criticism is not coming from some TruAnon nutbag but from someone who last voted Liberal in 2015.

I want the left to govern this country and all its component parts. It’s why I want the NDP to win in the four western provinces and why I would have voted for Olivia Chow in Toronto despite generally hating her approach to politics from when she was an MP. (Chow has rapidly surpassed all expectations I had for her, mostly because she’s willing to deal in a way I was worried she wouldn’t be.) But instead of following the lead of the successful NDP politicians of this era, we have Jagmeet pretending that everything is fine as everything crumbles around him.

The NDP under Jagmeet are a national embarrassment – we have NDP Ministers in BC having to reprimand their Federal leader’s understanding of housing issues, we have the Alberta NDP considering some form of disaffiliation because his leadership is toxic there, we have the Alberta and Sasky Energy Critics decrying a Federal NDP Private Member’s Bill, and all of this happens for no electoral benefit.

If the NDP were at 26% would this uselessness of a leadership be worth it? Sure, and I’d probably support it, because it would at least mean there was a discernible purpose for all of the dumbassery of the Singh leadership. It’s pretty clear from my view of Chow that I am willing to tolerate a lot to get the broad policy suite I support. If you’re able to stop CPC MPs from winning (or in Chow’s place, a Mayoral candidate who hired Nick Kouvalis), I will tolerate a lot. But he’s doing all of this in the name of still getting fucked.

The NDP can credibly claim they’ve achieved some good this Parliament, but at the end of the day they’re lying to themselves if they think the damage they will sustain for it was worth it. Had they made electoral reform their line in the sand, this deal would have been worth it. But by accepting the damage of formal dealmaking without MMP or STV, the NDP are stuck n no man’s land. They’re taking all of this damage on their culturally conservative, working class flank – losing places like Comox and Courtney and Kootenay and Skeena – all for the potential of … maybe you take Davenport off the Liberals, which at the end of the day doesn’t really matter?

Jagmeet Singh is, at the end of the day, a failure and a fraud. He is as tone deaf as my terrible uncle was when he gave that fucking eulogy, but the worst part is he’s such a joke that just like how nobody was surprised that the eulogy was shit, nobody is surprised now when he makes an ass out of himself. He is actively harming the causes he pretends to care about. He is lying to the Canadian people on a near-daily basis. He is everything a politician shouldn’t be, masquerading as a hero he’ll never be.

Jagmeet’s time has been up for at least 3 years now, but today’s stunt just makes it ever clearer. Singh is a cancer on Canadian politics and our country’s governance, and until he is removed we will all suffer for his presence.