TORONTO – The NDP finally punctured the balloon that passed for a political accord with the Liberals to work together on a National Agenda in the country’s interest, and consequently to the benefit of its emerging and evolving citizenry. It sounded aspirational and ambitious at the time. 

The political polls for the last year suggest we have spent almost three years asking the question, “where’s the beef”?

The NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, labouring under the duress of having to respond to that rhetorical question, tried to put a positive spin on the answer. To be kind, he resembled a gleeful tormentor pressing and twisting toxic needles in a voodoo doll – proxy for his [former, now jilted] political lover, Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau’s fan base may be at an all-time low but I rather suspect it is still larger than the loyalists who are capable of understanding the byzantine logic that allowed the NDP leader to claim ALL the credit for the positive things that have happened since the last election.

They would, naturally, believe all the rather vituperative descriptions he heaped onto the PM – deserved or not.

Apparently. Mr. Singh ‘saw the light’ about a month ago but has yet to be struck by any sense of urgency to take the required drastic action to either cauterize a festering wound or surgically separate the healthy from the infected. He seems to have trouble distinguishing one from the other.

One guesses that ‘all is fair in love and war’ but his cavalier dismissal of the man and Party that allowed him to play up his own importance is hardly a ‘confidence builder’ in his trustworthiness.

Since he has appropriated any and all credit for all that is ‘good and credit-worthy’, presumably he will take ownership of all the targets of popular discord. I will not hold my breath, which means the Liberals will be taking the heat for failed policies or ones that appear in disarray.

Neither Party to that disappearing coalition/informal agreement can look to Quebec for additional support. The citizens of that province elect 22% of the country’s MPs to the House of Commons. After the one-sided public burning of the now defunct Governance Agreement to sustain the government, les Quebecois are no doubt saying, “a pox on both your Houses”, thus firming up their support for the sovereigntist Bloc Quebecois, led by Yves-Francois Blanchet.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives and Mr. Pierre Poilievre keep up the negative pressure on a flailing government. Whether right or wrong, their message can only be re-enforced by the public self-mutilation Mr. Singh and his cohorts may think is a good substitute for positive debate on public policy.

There is a winner in all of this: political pundits, pollsters and analysts (contemporary Oracles of Delphi) will be reading their tea leaves for ‘truth and substance’ on a full-time basis until election day – whenever that takes place.

The handshake between Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh, back when they “got along” (photo from social networks)