Roundup: Poking holes in all of Singh’s arguments

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Today was the day that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh went before the media to answer questions about his decision to pull out of the agreement with the Liberals, but he didn’t really. He repeated the same lines about 75 times, but wouldn’t answer any specific or concrete questions, which is not unsurprising, but considering that he made this huge announcement and lobbed a bunch of grenades as part of it, you would think he could actually explain himself. Nope.

Singh went on Power & Politics, and got absolutely eviscerated by David Cochrane. He did confirm that they shot the video weeks ago, but wouldn’t say why they waited this long, or what had changed to make them release it this week. He refused to give a phone call to Trudeau to explain himself, because he didn’t want any new deals. He also pretty much straight-up admitted that he was the one acting in bad faith, which was amazing. The longer it went on, the worse it went for Singh as Cochrane poked holes in absolutely every one of Singh’s answers, up to and including demanding to know what concrete policy solutions he was demanding were, the issues around provincial jurisdiction, and forcing Singh to admit that he was acting in bad faith by refusing to live up to his end of the agreement with the Liberals when they lived up to theirs, and probably most damning of all, pointing to all of the ways the Liberals have been trying to rein in big corporations, such as the digital services tax, the global minimum tax negotiations, and the works. And Singh couldn’t do more than sputter his talking points. Just an empty suit with a few hollow talking points that are all sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing. Politics in 2024 is bad, you guys.

Programming Note: I am taking the weekend off of blogging for my birthday, and then I’m away for the early part of next week, so I’ll see you probably on Thursday.

Ukraine Dispatch

While the death toll from the attack on Poltava continues to climb, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy shuffled his Cabinet yesterday, hoping that new faces can bring fresh energy to their portfolios at this critical stage of the war. Zelenskyy is headed off to a meeting in Ramstein in order to argue for more long-range missiles that can strike military targets in Russia.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1831598527077630079

Good reads:

  • The RCMP have charged a former federal civil servant for directing 72 sole-sourced contracts to his own company.
  • Here is a case for greater policy scrutiny around police use of drones, which is starting to cross lines around privacy and Charter rights.
  • The Liberals’ campaign director has decided to step down, citing health and family reasons, and that may have had to do with the survivability of the next election.
  • The Conservatives refuse to answer questions on policy, and say it’ll come out closer to the next election.
  • Matt Gurney points to how Jagmeet Singh behaved in a half-pregnant manner with the agreement, and that he could have made better choices.
  • Paul Wells hears from Anita Anand on her productivity consultations, and that her focus is on public sector productivity, which is different than previous reports.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Poking holes in all of Singh’s arguments”

  2. David Cochrane is always brilliant. And when he said “that’s provincial jurisdiction”, I thought of you!

    What I don’t understand about the NDP is why they have to be so ugly about things. It’s like they think they have some halo that allows them to name-call and make accusations and still say they’re above all that. They’re “the adults in the room”. It’s gaslighting.

    They couldn’t even give the Liberals some notice? That detail about Anne McGrath having a drink with Katie Telford the night before is sad. It’s just…ugh.

    Reply ↓

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