Listen Up! They may listen but they do not hear | Commentary

During the past week or so, my inbox has been plagued with emails from various political parties begging for money. The pretext in all of them is that now that Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, has ripped up his accord with the Trudeau Liberals, a national election could be called at any moment. That is nonsense.

It may be an effective ploy to fatten political war chests, but nothing substantive has really changed. There is no greater chance that an election will be called in the immediate future than there was before Singh announced his departure from what was effectively a coalition arrangement with the Liberals. He propped them up then, and he will do so again if necessary. This announcement was pure political theatre and nothing else.

So why did he do it?

For one thing, members of his own party were demanding it. With barely a year to go before a national election must be held, they want to appear to be distancing themselves from the governing Liberals. Also, they have probably milked as much as they are going to get out of the current government, so why continue to suck along and be tied to their apron strings?

But will Jagmeet Singh force an election in the near term? Almost certainly not. He believes (in my view wrongly) that his polling numbers will significantly improve now that the NDP have formally separated themselves from the Liberals. But he is not ready for an election yet. 

For the foreseeable future, accord or no accord, Jagmeet Singh will continue to prop the Liberals up, either by siding with the government on confidence votes or knowing that the Bloc Quebecois, who have enough parliamentary seats to keep the Trudeau Liberals in power, will do it for him. 

That raises another issue that is problematic. The Bloc Quebecois barely waited a nanosecond after Jagmeet Singh “ripped up” his formal relationship with the government before they offered to fill the shoes vacated by the NDP and prop up the Liberal government. There were conditions of course, all related to even more special treatment for the Province of Quebec. 

The Bloc Quebecois is essentially a Separatist Party that wants full sovereignty for Quebec. The Trudeau government has already helped them in that direction by, among other things, allowing Quebec special status as a “Nation.” 

The Bloc’s House Leader, Alain Therrien, said in a recent telephone interview with the Montreal Gazette that with the Liberal/NDP accord now dead, he sees increased opportunities for his party. “Our objectives remain the same,” he said, “but the means to get there will be much easier. Our balance of power has improved – that’s for sure.”

While it may be politically incorrect to say so, many Canadians outside of Quebec are weary of special and extraordinary treatment for that province. In the potential absence of support from the NDP, a Liberal liaison with the Bloc Quebecois, which would require further concessions to Quebec, will not sit well with many Canadians, and I suspect that the Trudeau government is well aware of this.

Some critics say Jagmeet Singh will not force an election as he needs more time to qualify for his parliamentary pension, but that, too, is nonsense. Pension or no pension, there will be no tag days for Mr. Singh. His Rolex watch, three thousand-dollar bespoke suits, and luxury car speak pretty clearly to that.  

No, Jagmeet Singh will continue to support the Trudeau government when that support is needed because he needs more time to improve the NDP’s election prospects. His grandstanding regarding his agreement with the Liberals is simply a step in that direction with little consequence as to when an election will actually be held.

It should not be surprising that in the wake of the NDP withdrawing its official support of the Liberal government, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, also Leader of the Official Opposition, would call for a vote of non-confidence in Justin Trudeau’s minority government. It is also not the least bit surprising that Jagmeet Singh has indicated he will not support it. 

What is interesting, if not surprising, is the manner in which Singh made his intentions clear. He said he would not “Listen” to the Conservatives regarding a motion of non-confidence. That says two things to me: First, it says that the NDP has really no interest in bringing down the Trudeau government. Although both parties are on record opposing them, there is nothing the Conservatives can put forward in relation to a non-confidence vote that the NDP would support. They do not care what might be in it, they don’t need to see it first, they simply won’t support it no matter how compelling. Their break with the Liberals in relation to the accord was nothing more than showmanship. It really doesn’t mean a thing.

What I also found interesting is Mr. Singh’s pronouncement that he would not “Listen” to whatever the Conservatives proposed without having a good idea of what that might be.

Without any intention of doing so, by using that language, Jagmeet Singh put his finger on the problem with many politicians today. They may hear, but they do not listen. There is a distinct difference between the two, and the result is a polarization in Canadian politics that has, in my view, not been seen before. There is no middle ground. There is no room for listening to other viewpoints. There is no platform for compromise. We are, sadly, in a time of ‘my way or the highway’ politics. 

Recent polling has shown that Canadians see political parties shifting toward the extreme, with no room for those who prefer a middle ground. This leaves many feeling politically homeless. 

That is a problem. Our politicians should not only hear that, but they should also really listen to it.  

Hugh Mackenzie

Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.

Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.

In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.

Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler and South Muskoka Doppler.

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