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The NDP are the kind of party who don't just hope lightning will strike twice.  They practically count on it.

At a time when everyone is fixated on, or at least vaguely aware of, the sideshow in Ottawa, and when federal Opposition leaders are shooting the moon calling for resignations and public inquiries, the Ontario NDP decided to blow the entirety of whatever political capital they've managed to gain in less than a year by calling for their very own fulsome and noisome public inquiry, even as literally nobody outside of possibly Ron Taverner himself is protesting his own treatment and lots of people are protesting the Ford government's treatment of parents of autistic kids.

How the NDP came to the conclusion that the voters could keep track of two independently moving public inquiries at once is beyond me, unless they simply decided that everyone hates Ford as much as they do and decided that they would lose more credibility if they just let Ford fuddle-duddle up something as simple as appointing an OPP commissioner.  They could have told voters, "If you think this is bad, just wait for him to really screw something up!" and then pounce as soon as he does, but would they ever get the chance to use a cute hashtag like #Tavscam again?

Obviously I bring up the NDP's conduct here because I'm in the tank for the PC's, right?  Sure, you can draw that conclusion and be done with it, or you could realize that two things can be true at the same time.  To wit, there is the large body of evidence, accumulated by dedicated Fordologists over what is approaching a decade, that Doug Ford has a tendency to micromanage and value loyalty over competence.  And it is also true that the NDP, and some of those dedicated Doug-watchers who really should know better, have gravely misread what the voters want and expect from Ford.

The fact is that, as much as the NDP would like it to be true, the PC's and the federal Liberals are not the same people.  That's why the SNC-JWR-WTF-OMG-LOL scandal has crowded out everything else, even the Mark Norman affair (you know, that OTHER massive Liberal scandal.)  The public really do or did, anyway believe that Justin Trudeau is this demigod who was destined to save Canada.  Now that that is obviously not true anymore, the disappointment is real and palpable.  Doug Ford, on the other hand, is nobody's hero.  He was never marketed to the public that way, and I don't think he even likes being portrayed that way.

Because he did not appear on the cover of Rolling Stone, gallivant around the world proclaiming himself to be humanity's conscience, or try to set himself up as some laughable example of trans-racialism by dressing up like an Indian bridegroom, Doug Ford is benefiting from Justin Trudeau more than Justin Trudeau could ever benefit from Doug Ford.  It is literally as simple as Trudeau not being able to live up to the lofty standard he set for himself, which was also the standard he appeared to set for his political opponents.

It helps (more than it hurts) that Ford has simply been able to appoint another commissioner, and that the Taverner affair doesn't rip the Band-Aid off a gaping wound on the Canadian soul namely, the reconciliation process with First Nations the way Trudeau's alleged pestering of Jody Wilson-Raybould did.

Then there's the fact that Trudeau and his cadre of shamrock-bearing supporters can't even do the one thing that the Prime Minister is supposed to be worlds better than everyone else at  look good.  Trudeau is supposed to be polished to the point of intimidation, but he's never looked or sounded as unready as he has been these past few weeks.  And if he were to mount a spirited defence of his actions, Chretien style, or Ford style, it would help him a lot more than his current strategy of sounding like Coach Z from Homestar Runner as he repeats the word "jobs" endlessly.

Justin Trudeau is the prideful man undergoing a fall.  Doug Ford is the buffoon slipping on a banana peel.  Neither is good.  But only one is going to elicit anger and calls for punishment.

Written by Josh Lieblein

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.


Remember when the biggest political news story in the country was federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh's resounding by-election victory?

Well, a lot of political water has certainly gone under the bridge since then, hasn't it?

And in theory, you'd think all that water would be lifting Singh and the NDP to a higher political ground.

After all, since Singh's by-election triumph the much-publicized SNC-Lavalin scandal, with its overtones of corrupt corporate capitalism, has landed smack dab in the middle of the NDP's socialist wheelhouse; it's an issue, in other words, Singh should have knocked out of the ballpark.

Yet, amazingly, despite everything that's working in his favour, the NDP leader still hasn't made much of an impact.

As a matter of fact, it seems as if the only stories which centred on the NDP during the scandal fracas were ones focusing on high profile NDP MPs who were retiring from politics, leading to speculation they were abandoning a lost cause.

So even at the height of the SNC-Lavalin affair, bad headlines were still dogging the NDP.

So what's the trouble?  Why can't Singh seem to catch a break?

Or more to the point, why can't he seem to make himself or his party more relevant?

And yes, the fact that I'm even talking about an NDP leader needing to become "relevant" is a sign as to far down Canada's official socialist party has fallen since the heady days of Jack Layton when it seemed as if the country's political landscape was about to be deluged by an unstoppable "Orange Wave".

Yet not all is lost for the NDP.

Indeed, if you're a New Democrat and you want to embrace a little positivity then consider this: the NDP has no place to go but up.

And when I say that, I'm not being facetious.

In fact, from a grand strategic point of view, being low in the polls months before an election gives the NDP an opportunity to claim that most cherished of all political prizes: momentum.

And yes, momentum matters a lot.

Simply put, voters like to be on what I like to call a "moving train", so if Singh can show his party is gaining steam, that's its heading in the right direction, it can help attract supporters, voters who are looking to be on a team that's ascendant, and that growing support would in turn attract even more supporters and thus boost the NDP's fortunes.

To get this momentum train rolling, all it will take are a few modest upticks of support for the NDP in public opinion polls, and then, once that happens, Singh can start crowing about how his party's message is clearly starting to resonate with Canadians.

That's to say, he doesn't need a dramatic upsurge in the polls, just consistent, steady progress.

But to realize such polling gains, Singh first needs to concentrate on improving his brand and on polishing his message.

So what does he need to do?

Well, first and foremost, Singh needs to convince both the media and the public at large, that he's ready for prime time.

And that means overcoming his two glaring weaknesses as leader, one of which might be called a "macro" problem, the other a "micro" problem.

Let's first consider his weakness at the macro level, by which I mean he's failed so far to gain any traction when it comes to either capturing the imagination of voters or selling himself as a viable progressive alternative to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

How does he turn this around?

Well, he needs to come up with a compelling message, a message that reflects both the values Canadians embrace and the concerns and hopes they harbor.

This will take lots of skillful polling analysis and lots of careful message crafting; it won't be easy, it won't be cheap, but it can be done.

Next, Singh needs to address his "micro" problem, by which I mean his poor performance when dealing with the media.

I think you know what I'm talking about here.

Often times Singh seems ill-prepared when talking to the media, as if he's not sure of his facts or as if he's uncertain as to his party's own positions.

To my mind this reflects poor staff work.

So to correct this problem, Singh just needs to hire better staff, i.e. he needs communication professionals at his side, people who can provide solid media training and who can help him look confident and assured when he's before a camera.

To sum up, Singh needs to get his act together and he needs to do it soon.

That NDP momentum train sure ain't gonna start itself.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.


In politics, you always try to establish clear contrasts to allow the voters to make the comparison and decide in your favour.  Sometimes, these contrasts are established by your opponents.  Sometimes, the contrast is coming from within your own ranks.

That is exactly what came to my mind this week as the government was managing two crises in a different manner.  Contrast and compare.

The first crisis has been plaguing the Trudeau government for over five weeks now.  Ever since the Globe and Mail broke the story about political interference in the SNC-Lavalin criminal case, the Liberals have been in full damage control.

The file is managed at the very top and it has been, to say the least, very poorly managed.  Justin Trudeau's own version of what happened has evolved and changed numerous times from the "these allegations are false" starting position.  The default position to prevent Jody Wilson-Raybould to answer any question fully, the Liberal MPs voting to shut down the Justice committee meeting, the refusal to hear the other witnesses have all been less than helpful.

The messaging has been off, the response has been tone deaf, the political strategy miscarried and the tactics used backfired.  The net results: the Liberals have started to drop in the polls, so much that, of the 20 polls conducted since the beginning of the crisis, the Conservatives have been ahead for all but 3, including the last 8.

The other crisis has been the Boeing 737 Max 8.  This one is being managed by Transport Minister Marc Garneau.  The question before him was whether to ground all these planes, following last Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Now, many have pointed out that Garneau was slow to react and did so only after most other countries, with the notable exception of the United States, had already done so.  It was a bit of dangerous gamble for Marc Garneau to wait that long to ground these planes.  Thankfully for him and the Trudeau government, nothing happened.

The political ramifications are far and wide.  European countries had no problem grounding Boeing quickly.  The decision might not have come as quickly if it had been planes from European giant Airbus.  Incidentally, Airbus is a partner of Bombardier.

At the same time, Boeing employs 1600 people in Canada.  Three Canadian carriers, Sunwing, Air Canada and Westjet, are operating the 737 Max 8.  And our American partners are obviously not interested in seeing the entire Boeing corporation crash and burn.

So yes, Garneau took extra time.  Discussions were had with the Americans, according to Donald Trump himself: "We were giving them information and they were giving us information", he said before announcing three hours after Canada that the US, too, was grounding the 737 Max 8.

The contrast appeared to all who were watching the news conference as Marc Garneau announced the grounding.  Garneau is a retired military officer and astronaut.  He is an engineer.  Under pressure, under questioning, he was calm, determined.  He patiently explained what was going on, answering technical questions with simple explications, rooted in his vast experience and firm grip of the file.

Canadians were comforted by Garneau's presence and performance.

The contrast was there for all to see.

Trudeau.  Garneau.
Contrast.  Compare.

Which leads many to ask themselves, including many Liberals: What if Marc Garneau was Prime Minister?

During the leadership race, Marc Garneau challenged Justin Trudeau's lack of experience.  "So please tell us what in your resume qualifies you to be the leader of the country?", he asked the future Prime Minister.

These words took their full meaning over the past five weeks while Trudeau's struggles to get out of the SNC-Lavalin mess, a mess of his own creation.

A mess that lead to an "erosion of trust" from Canadians towards Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party and our justice system.

Photo Credit: National Post

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.