Jagmeet Singh is a champagne socialist who doesn’t drink; a hipster, with bespoke three-piece suits; a religious Sikh who never truly connected with Quebecers nor his party’s blue-collar base. He’s not a policy wonk. He never looked like or spoke like a politician. Singh just seemed like a guy who waltzed onto the federal political scene, wanting to make a difference, never unencumbered by the rules of the game.
Jagmeet Singh is a champagne socialist who doesn’t drink; a hipster, with bespoke three-piece suits; a religious Sikh who never truly connected with Quebecers nor his party’s blue-collar base. He’s not a policy wonk. He never looked like or spoke like a politician. Singh just seemed like a guy who waltzed onto the federal political scene, wanting to make a difference, never unencumbered by the rules of the game.
Late Monday evening, flanked by his wife, Singh announced that his seven-and-a-half-year tenure as the federal NDP leader had come to an end.
Many New Democrats will welcome the chance for the party to hit the reset button. Singh’s leadership win in 2017 was full of promise after former leader Thomas Mulcair was ousted for running a disappointing 2015 election campaign, one that saw the NDP drop from its high-water mark of 103 seats under Jack Layton to 44, and the loss of Official Opposition status. New Democrats hoped they’d found their own Justin Trudeau, a hip, youthful leader who could energize the party’s base, bring in donors and new Canadians.
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Althia Raj is an Ottawa-based national politics columnist for
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