Jagmeet Singh abandoned the ‘online left’— and it's catching up to him and his party
Jagmeet Singh abandoned the ‘online left’— and it's catching up to him and his party
Jagmeet Singh and the NDP sit in the shadow of the Liberal Government, caught between criticizing those in power while also attempting to claim agency over bills being passed.
Today, the NDP sits in the shadow of the Liberal government, caught between criticizing those in power while also attempting to claim agency over bills being passed. Most peculiar of all has been Singh’s retreat from online spaces. In 2023, he deactivated his TikTok account citing privacy concerns, but the shift in the tone of his content went beyond that.
His once fresh, relatable, curtain-tearing content had been replaced by generic campaign videos of Singh reading scripts word-for-word that feel like they were copied directly from the platform section of the NDP website. It became boring, uninspired and — most importantly — ineffective. Polls now project a loss of seats for the NDP in the next election.
One thing is for certain: we are closer to a Singh exit than we are from his arrival. Come October, he will have been party leader for seven years — he will certainly not be leader in seven years. So, has his choice to abandon his online roots damaged the future of his party?
Whatever the future of the NDP holds and whoever its next leader will be, it is clear that it remains a party in desperate need of reimagination — the exact same issue that Singh was brought in to solve.
There is such appetite in this country for proper left wing policies that it's entirely mind numbing why the NDP leadership is acting this way.
We have serious problems in areas where a left wing party could play amazing ball. And instead, we're letting Bitcoin Trump-lite monopolize the anger game, when we could be putting forward bold progressive policy ideas that are way beyond what the liberals could ever coopt.
24This right here. There is an appetite for a real party with actual progressive policies. But I guess we'll have to go with Liberal light.
7
It's pretty disappointing to see how people who are disappointed in the Liberals completely skip over the NDP. I feel they did a poor job of differentiating themselves from the liberals and lost the opportunity.
18With anti-democracy Lucy Watson being made national director, the party will be more and more like the Liberals from a policy standpoint. So I guess voting Liberal just skips the middle man?
If the party actually allowed itself to be ruled by its grassroots, then maybe things would be different, but it is fervently opposed to being accountable to its members - and largely even their own bylaws.
6
I feel like this guy has been hiding under a desk, waiting for the election to pass. He's so ineffectual and has not been a factor this election at all. Haven't heard much out of him.
12I’m fine with his worker first policy since it’s the NDP
My problem is him abandoning the rail unions
Edit: He remedied this
6The party needs a fresh start. We’re out of money, toeing this weird line between criticizing the government but also propping it up, and haven’t made ANY gains from crumbling liberal support. The legislative wins from the supply and confidence agreement don’t seems to be bearing any fruit. Everything feels stagnant, leadership change will hopefully give the party a chance to redefine itself and assert that it is the true left wing alternative to PP, and the liberals.
5It's still encouraging to see that Canada has a Third Party
4