Jesse Kline: Jagmeet Singh was the author of his own demise
It's said that politics is as unforgiving as a blood sport — one move can make or break a career. For outgoing NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, we can now pinpoint the exact moment that sealed his fate: when, in December, he said he wouldn't play 'games' with the Conservatives.
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Singh was speaking about the third non-confidence motion the Conservatives had introduced to try to bring down the deeply unpopular government of Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau. Despite ending his party's confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals in September, Singh accused the Tories of 'playing games' and pledged to continue propping up the government. As it turns out, Singh might not have been playing the game, but that doesn't mean the game wasn't being played.
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While the government had survived confidence motions on Sept. 25 and Oct. 1, the Dec. 9 vote was different because the Bloc Québécois voted in favour of it, after Trudeau failed to acquiesce to an ultimatum issued by the party. Had the Bloc and NDP voted for the motion, the government would have fallen and we would likely be in a much different situation today.
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At the time, Singh took a lot of flack, especially from conservatives, for continuing to prop up a government whose policies he clearly didn't support. But from Singh's perspective, the decision made perfect sense. After all, the NDP has never had as much influence over government policy as it did while the confidence-and-supply deal was in place between March 2022 and September 2024.
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Singh knew that when an election was eventually called, he would be able to go to his voters and say that the NDP finally achieved real-world results on issues like pharmacare and socialized dental care. But he also knew that if Canadians went to the polls right away, the Conservatives, who were then leading both the Liberals and New Democrats by more than 20 points, would likely have formed government.
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If that had happened, Singh would have lost all his power. Even if the Conservatives had been held to a minority, it's unlikely that the NDP wouldn't have had much sway over the government, as there are few issues that free-market Tories and socialist Dippers agree on. As Singh told the media at the time, he was worried that the Conservatives would cut the very programs he had fought so hard to get the Liberals to enact.
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From an ideological perspective, Singh's calculus thus made perfect sense. And perhaps, despite announcing his resignation on election night, the NDP leader will be able to sleep soundly believing he will someday be remembered as the Tommy Douglas of tooth decay.
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