Singh for the Win

Jagmeet Singh is bad news for the Liberals and good news for the Conservatives.

The secret key to Canadian politics is that we are always looking South to see what big brother is doing, and then want to do the same. But there is a variable time delay of about seven years.

Trudeau got in two years ago as the best approximation at the time of Barack Obama. Young and handsome, at any rate.

But Singh looks significantly more hopeandchangey. For one obvious thing, his skin tone is closer. He can whup Trudeau for the “Canada’s Obama” vote.

It will probably not be enough for the NDP to win. After all, Obama is gone in the US. A bit too late for Singh. Now we look South, and see Trump. And the NDP is coming from third place currently.

What he is more likely to do is split the leftward vote more evenly, giving the Conservatives the chance to win. Scheer does not look or feel at all like Trump, but he is the closest thing, and, in the end, a real Trump would probably be too much for Canadians. Politeness is far more important north of the border than south. Reagan got us Mulroney; he wasn’t that close a copy either.