How Does Deputy Prime Minister Jagmeet Singh Sound – But Can The NDP Hold On And Add To It’s 39 Seats?

 

The close election is expected to produce a minority government but who will it be – Justin Trudeau led Liberal minority supported by the NDP led by the very capable Jagmeet Singh, who may decide that he’s going not only support the government but may want to be a part of it. How does Deputy Prime Minister Jagmeet Singh sound – but first he’s got to win over Canadians who have their own racial and cultural bias and keep his current 40 seats and perhaps add some more.

By Promod Puri and R. Paul Dhillon

 

 

As the starting gun was fired Wednesday for October 21 election campaign, the ruling Liberal Party and the opposition Conservative Party are running almost neck-to-neck with 34 and 35 percent support respectively, according to the latest poll.

 

The close election is expected to produce a minority government but who will it be – Justin Trudeau led Liberal minority supported by the NDP led by the very capable Jagmeet Singh, who may decide that he’s going not only support the government but may want to be a part of it. How does Deputy Prime Minister Jagmeet Singh sound – but first he’s got to win over Canadians who have their own racial and cultural bias and keep his current 40 seats and perhaps add some more.

 

It could also be a Andrew Scheer led Conservative minority government supported by the Green Party led by Elizabeth May, who have come under criticism for letting candidates be racist spewing rightwingers just to win enough seats to be of any significance. The People’s Party of Canada (PPC) led by Maxime Berneier, once a Conservative star, is too racist, too nutty and too fringe to have any impact in the election and we don’t foresee it winning many seats – perhaps just Bernier’s if he can hold on to that.

 

 

While the poll shows that the two front running parties are very close, there is also the closeness of the next two parties in terms of support. There is 11 percent support for each to the New Democratic Party and the Green Party.

 

While we stated that the new political sneaker this time representing the Far-Right burrows of Canada in Bernier’s PPC may not win many seats, it could have impact on the Conservative vote if he takes the far-right, racist vote. Disgruntled former Conservative MP Bernier, who launched the PPC last year, is currently sitting at three percent approval, according to the poll.

 

 

The real race, which is traditional in Canadian power politics, has always been between the Liberal and the Conservative parties. And this time is no different. However, the difference in this election fray is the emergence of the Green Party.

 

The Green is creating a strong wind to shift the direction of the Canadian politics but it remains to be seen if the rise in support will actually translate to seats.

 

 

Greens will share the stage with the Singh’s New Democratic Party in the roles of being the kingmaker. After all, both the NDP and the Green ideologically sit together in the same political carousal. They ride on the environmental issues facing Canada and the world.

 

The difference between the two is only of small degree but Singh is a better politician and it’s going to be a big challenge for him to get his ideas across to Canadians better than the Greens, who’ve come under criticism for having candidates say whatever to win votes.

 

How the post-election game will play depends upon how much the supporting parties, i.e. the NDP and the Green, can extract from either of the Liberal or the Conservative to meet their poll promises and ideological commitments.

 

The post-election arena would be as much exciting as during the just begun campaign period, which concludes on October 19 – Election Day.

 

 

The Theme slogans have been introduced by all the parties. These are:

The Greens – “Not left. Not right. Forward Together”,

People’s Party of Canada – “Strong and Free,”

The Conservatives – “It’s Time for You to Get Ahead,”

The Liberals – “Choose Forward,”

The NDP – “In it for you.”

 

Promod Puri is the founder and former editor-publisher of the South Asian LINK. R. Paul Dhillon is the current editor of the LINK as well as the Founder-Publisher of DESIBUZZCanada and DESIBUZZbc.