John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ROBYN URBACK IN CBC NEWS
“The NDP [New Democratic Party] should've been the 'change' option this election. Instead, it's grasping for relevance.
“Jagmeet Singh [the NDP's new leader] has been blessed with two Ottawa establishment opponents and ample room to reoccupy the left”
A highly accurate piece of analysis.
Singh is, I'm sure, an honorable and decent man, but he simply is not a leader.
I don't know what happened to the NDP when selecting him, but it has made such mistakes a few times.
The NDP has given us some remarkable leaders and statesmen in the past. Jack Layton. Thomas Mulcair. David Lewis. Bob Rae. Ed Broadbent. Tommy Douglas.
The quality of the names on that list is extraordinary, especially given that the NDP is a minority party.
The author's mention of money is important, but a charismatic leader will attract money.
It is much to be regretted because Trudeau has for many lost credibility as a leader and as a statesman. For me, he is neither. Rather a kind of political department-store mannequin who gets wheeled out wearing expensive shirts, usually with the sleeves rolled up, and a big smile.
I find him genuinely off-putting anymore after all the insincerity about transparency, about keeping promises, and about his pretty much faithful service to Washington’s ugliest international policies. His millennialist mush language reminds me too much of Gwyneth Paltrow selling her Goop products to suckers.
Scheer does not make a strong impression one way or the other. I say, at least, thank God he’s not Harper.
The parties have really let the people down, but that is all too common in "Western democracies." Just look at the ghastly choice Americans were offered in 2016. Figures from two tableaux of Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors.
