EDITORIAL: A divorce? Not really. It’s just a separation

Published Sep 04, 2024  •  Last updated 2 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick /THE CANADIAN PRESS

New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh has finally pulled the plug on the “Supply and Confidence” agreement that’s kept Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority Liberals in power since the last election.

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In a video message posted online, Singh called the Liberal government, “too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people.” He’s setting himself up as the only true leader of the left in this country, by attacking Trudeau.

The video looked like a campaign message. There are two federal byelections next week: one in a safe NDP Winnipeg riding and another in Montreal. If the Liberals fare poorly in them, Trudeau’s leadership will come under greater scrutiny. The same goes for Singh if his party falters.

The NDP has no doubt looked south and seen the success of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign and is counting on grabbing some of the “hope and joy” pixie dust she’s been sprinkling there. It all sounds warm and fuzzy. In reality, it’s vapid and meaningless.

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The pact was supposed to last until June 2025. Ending it doesn’t mean there’s an election around the corner. The government would have to fall on a confidence vote or the budget.

Speaking in Newfoundland, Trudeau said he’s focused on governing.

“I’ll let others focus on politics,” he said. Well, there’s a first. A politician who’s not interested in politics.

The big winner is Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. His poll numbers are soaring as disaffected voters turn away from Trudeau in droves. Poilievre has been on a cross-country tour this summer calling for Trudeau to axe the carbon tax that’s pushing the price of everything out of the reach of average Canadians.

Poll numbers show his message is resonating and if an election were held tomorrow, he’d be prime minister with a majority government.

Both Singh and Trudeau would have you believe Poilievre is scary and will cut a swath through services we rely on. What’s scarier is the thought the NDP could keep this blundering government in place a moment longer.

The Liberal-NDP marriage was never a happy one. This isn’t so much divorce as a separation. The marriage will end when Singh finally votes to put this incompetent government out of its misery.

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