Excellent win, exceptional expectations

He ran his campaign for the party’s top slot under the slogan,” With Love and Courage” and was received well by the party that has given him the baton for the leadership to the House of Commons, however he would have to stay in the provincial politics for some more time. 38 years of age, Jagmeet Singh representing the riding of Bramlea-Gore Malton in the Ontario Assembly swept to an extraordinary victory on the first ballot to become leader of the federal New Democratic Party. He also created history by becoming Canada’s first non-white political leader of a major party on the national level. For that matter the riding of Bramlea-Gore Malton got its due attention when Gurbax Singh Malhi got elected to the House of Commons in 1993, as the first ever turbaned politician to be elected anywhere in the world. Jagmeet Singh’s win was on the expected lines; however he managed to get more than 53 percent of the vote, making it an easy win for him.  Other contenders for the leadership of NDP finished well behind Jagmeet Singh. Ontario MP Charlie Angus could manage 19.4 per cent of the vote. Manitoba MP Niki Ashton had 17.4 per cent vote while Quebec MP Guy Caron finished in last place, with 9.4 per cent of the ballots cast. That’s been a significant gap, considering that the delegates reposed faith in a leader from provincial politics over seasoned ones in federal.

Just after the win, Jagmeet Singh sounded the war bugle! In his speech as the leader of the NDP he took shots at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and recounting the financial hardships that some of the Canadians may be experiencing Jagmeet Singh said, “For most Canadians, working is a necessity and not a hobby.”

Jagmeet Singh has a tough task ahead; in normal circumstances his journey to the Federal House of Commons is about two years away and with all four seats in Brampton held by Liberals.  There is a by-election set to be called in Scarborough, as incumbent MP Arnold Chan died in September. Will Jagmeet Singh fancy his chances there?

He also faces a challenge in Quebec, where religion and the politics on the ban on wearing religious symbols are going to play a dominant role.  During the leadership debate he was forthright in expressing his dissent for the legislation that would ban government workers from wearing religious symbols. The first voice of opposition to Jagmeet Singh’s stand has come from the sitting MP from NDP Pierre Nantel who has stated that he could switch party should Singh become a leader.

Getting the voters back to the fold of NDP would be an even larger challenge as the party lost its status of official opposition party in the house of common in the last elections. Party many not be looking just at a repeat of the performance that Jack Layton provided, they would be looking at Jagmeet to do even better so as form a government at Ottawa, and that may not come easy for NDP considering that Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been doing fairly good.

Jagmeet Singh has already set the ball rolling by smashing expectation by winning the leadership bid on a single ballot. Tommy Douglas and Jack Layton were the other two to win the NDP leadership on a single ballot. Having joined the elite class of the NDP, the party must be hoping that Jagmeet can lead them to secure majority at House of Commons. Jagmeet known for defying odds, creating exceptional records would have a lot at stake when the Federal polls are announced in 2019.