Jagmeet Singh has proven to be a wicked-good campaigner

436 posts / 0 new

Sat, 2019-09-21 18:52

radiorahim radiorahim's picture

The NDP is running a low budget campaign this time. It does not have a campaign plane. It just has a campaign bus. Air travel will be restricted to certain long haul trips.

Jagmeet Singh was returning from the International Ploughing Match which this year takes place just outside of Sudbury. It's a major annual event in the agricultural sector. About a third of the provincial NDP caucus was there...a couple of the Northern Ontario NDP MPP's have been staying in the trailer park onsite this past week.

Anyway, Jagmeet Singh was on his way back to a number of events in the Toronto area. Barrie is the first city of any size between Sudbury and Toronto and while the federal campaign in Barrie might not win, it is a very active campaign and it's the sort of community that the NDP is going to have to start winning in if it ever wants to win government.

So, it's entirely appropriate that Jagmeet Singh made his announcement there.

I'm guessing that he'll be spending perhaps a week at a time in various regions of Canada.

Sat, 2019-09-21 19:30

#303

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

I agree that Jagmeet Singh has been running an excellent campaign. There were so many naysayers about his leadership that I had low expectations but I think he is coming across as genuine, smart and more than capable to be PM.

Sat, 2019-09-21 20:29

(Reply to #303) #304

WWWTT

radiorahim wrote:

The NDP is running a low budget campaign this time.   It does not have a campaign plane.   It just has a campaign bus.    Air travel will be restricted to certain long haul trips.

Jagmeet Singh was returning from the International Ploughing Match which this year takes place just outside of Sudbury.    It's a major annual event in the agricultural sector.   About a third of the provincial NDP caucus was there...a couple of the Northern Ontario NDP MPP's have been staying in the trailer park onsite this past week.

Anyway, Jagmeet Singh was on his way back to a number of events in the Toronto area.    Barrie is the first city of any size between Sudbury and Toronto and while the federal campaign in Barrie might not win, it is a very active campaign and it's the sort of community that the NDP is going to have to start winning in if it ever wants to win government.

So, it's entirely appropriate that Jagmeet Singh made his announcement there.

I'm guessing that he'll be spending perhaps a week at a time in various regions of Canada.

Sounds logical.

At this point, it appears that the NDP is at the very worst at least back on track to rebuilding.

And I agree with your take on Barrie. Same could be said for other similar Southern Ontario cities like Peterborough, Kingston, Bellville etc etc.

Sat, 2019-09-21 20:48

#305

NorthReport

Just a warning to some progressive supporters

If you insist on continuing to trash Jagmeet Singh, what with Liberals possibly in free fall, after the recent Trudeau brownface/blackface antics, you might inadvertently be pushing The Conservatives into power. The reason being that the credibility of the Singh-led NDP may well end up being the only way to stop Scheer.

Sat, 2019-09-21 21:32

(Reply to #305) #306

Aristotleded24

kropotkin1951 wrote:

Aristotleded24 wrote:

NorthReport wrote:
Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh stops in Barrie

Singh outlines several policies during campaign stop in south-end Barrie

https://www.orilliamatters.com/canadavotes/federal-ndp-leader-jagmeet-singh-stops-in-barrie-1700834

In Barrie, where even in 2011 the NDP came nowhere close to winning. Meanwhile, just in Winnipeg, we have 2 Liberal seats in play and an NDP seat in danger of falling. What was so special about this announcement that it had to be done in Barrie? Is the opiod crisis top of mind in Barrie? Is Barrie the only city in the country that has dentists? The NDP has limited resources. This announcement could have been done in St. Johns, Halifax, Rimouski, Montreal, Val'd'Or, Hamilton, London, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Cranbrook, Penticton or Victoria. But wasting precious time and energy in, of all places, Barrie? This is beyond maddening!

WTF DO you really believe that it makes a difference which city a platform is roled out in. The press gallery is following it and its not like the people in St. Johns, Halifax, Rimouski, Montreal, Val'd'Or, Hamilton, London, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Cranbrook, Penticton or Victoria won't hear about it.

Because where he goes speaks volumes about which regions he thinks are important. That's also where he will meet locals. There are other symbolic reasons. Jack Layton kicked off the 2008 campaign in Calgary Southwest to symbolize that he wanted to replace Harper as Prime Minister. To me, it's the same manifestation of the NDP treating the whole country as if it is like southern Ontario. The rest of the country either hasn't heard from him, or in the case of Saskatchewan, they are so angry at him that they don't want to. As I understand your position, it is that the NDP needs to elect MPs who speak to local concerns. Meanwhile, today Elizabeth May stopped by in my riding to do a policy announcement. This is a Liberal seat, but the NDP has a shot here. One thing that could cost the NDP the election and re-elect the Liberals is if soft NDP support goes over to the Greens. Singh being here would boost the NDP. It would also help out Daniel Blaikie across the river in Elmwood, who is in danger of losing his race to one of Scheer's Conservatives.

radiorahim wrote:
The NDP is running a low budget campaign this time. It does not have a campaign plane. It just has a campaign bus. Air travel will be restricted to certain long haul trips.

Now why is that? The NDP has managed to have campaign planes before. Might it be because of fundraising issues, which indicate a lack of confidence in the party?

kropotkin1951 wrote:
You are beginning to sound like a Liberal operative intent on dissing anything you can find wrong about the campaign. This thread is about the leader and he has been doing a stellar job since the campaign began but not according to you.

My main concern in this campaign is electing Leah Gazan as the NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre. The rest of the campaign I'm not following very closely, but this incident with Trudeau is so ubiquitous in the media that it's hard to not be aware. I agree that Sing has handled this very well, as he is well suited to talk about this kind of thing. My issue is that I don't think Singh is a good leader, and I've been pretty open about that on this forum. People may agree with me or not. In the case of Winnipeg Centre, that will depend almost entirely on local factors. The national campaign will not be a factor here.

Sat, 2019-09-21 21:44

#307

radiorahim radiorahim's picture

What one must keep in mind is that the "per vote" public subsidy to political parties was abolished under Harper. This hit the NDP much more than other parties. Although there is a cap of $1600 on donations ($1600 to EDA's and $1600 to the central party), Tories and Liberals have way more "$1600 donors".

The other difficult bit is that during Tom Mulcair's "lame duck" leadership period, no attention was paid to party fundraising at all.

On top of that, NDP donors are a little more inclined to give more money to their local EDA than they are to the central party.

So Jagmeet Singh has inherited a party that is underfinanced and understaffed. That means that it's impossible to be in Sudbury one day and Rimouski the next...not to forget the carbon footprint you'd leave if you were to actually do that.

So...whatever you can kick in would help this situation :) https://action.ndp.ca/page/contribute/donate-today?source=DONATE_HEADER

Sat, 2019-09-21 22:00

(Reply to #307) #308

kropotkin1951

Aristotleded24 wrote:

My issue is that I don't think Singh is a good leader, and I've been pretty open about that on this forum. People may agree with me or not. In the case of Winnipeg Centre, that will depend almost entirely on local factors. The national campaign will not be a factor here.

So what did you not like about the leaders debate? I think the man has grown into a job with a very steep learning curve and is performing better than the last leader and better than Jack in his first election. He is proving to be very capable of speaking about all the issues and is weaving them together into good narratives, even in scrums. I also agree that the national campaign is not a major factor in the riding I am in or in the Burnaby riding I used to live in. The national campaign has never been a factor and voters in the ridings I have lived in have elected three of the best MP's.

Sat, 2019-09-21 22:23

(Reply to #308) #309

Aristotleded24

radiorahim wrote:
NDP donors are a little more inclined to give more money to their local EDA than they are to the central party.

There's a good reason for that, considering the bang-up job the central party did in the last campaign and that local districts in places like BC were able to respond to their communities and elect NDP MPs despite what was going on in the rest of the country.

Besides, do you think that the Greens are a big fundraising powerhouse? They were able to get May to Winnipeg, in the area of the city that has the highest support for the Green Party. I'm sure they'll also get her to Guelph, New Brunswick, and PEI by the time this thing is over.

kropotkin1951 wrote:
Aristotleded24 wrote:

My issue is that I don't think Singh is a good leader, and I've been pretty open about that on this forum. People may agree with me or not. In the case of Winnipeg Centre, that will depend almost entirely on local factors. The national campaign will not be a factor here.

So what did you not like about the leaders debate?

I didn't watch the leaders debate, and in any case, with my vote set and everything else going on, it's irrelevant for me at the moment. Singh has been handed a good hand in the first bit of the campaign, and he has played that hand very well. That doesn't change anything that went on before this campaign started.

Sun, 2019-09-22 01:08

(Reply to #309) #310

radiorahim radiorahim's picture

I quite agree that there were issues leading up to the campaign, but between now and October 21st, I don't particularly feel like dwelling on them. There will be plenty of time to do that after October 21st.

It's like being involved in a strike. If I end up on strike I don't dwell on what went wrong in the period leading up to the strike. I work to build support for the strike, and to win.

Right now I want to see as many NDP MP's elected as possible, in particular NDP MP's from the party's left (and there are lots of really good people running all over the country).

My advice? Pick a candidate nearby that you like, and help get them elected (if you aren't doing so already). It might be your own constituency...or it might be another one.

Sun, 2019-09-22 18:06

#311

NorthReport

Hear! Hear!

Sun, 2019-09-22 01:45

#312

NorthReport

Singh says he won’t be used by Trudeau as a PR Tool to get him off the hook with his blackface issue

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/nationalpost.com/news/canada/singh-campaigns-in-toronto-may-in-winnipeg-as-liberal-and-tory-leaders-pause/amp

Sun, 2019-09-22 01:52

#313

NorthReport

Jagmeet Singh just shared the most wholesome video

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.narcity.com/amp/jagmeet-singhs-video-from-his-windsor-stop-is-warming-hearts

Sun, 2019-09-22 18:03

#314

NorthReport

Hear! Hear!

Jagmeet Singh says he fill fight against an economy that is “rigged” against the younger generations and says he wants to fight for those who are not part of the wealthy demographic in Canada

https://globalnews.ca/video/5933951/federal-election-2019-singh-says-he-will-fight-against-economy-rigged-against-young-people

Sun, 2019-09-22 18:42

#315

NorthReport

After the Trudeau escapades, no kidding!

Singh sees big jump in favourability

whag should concern the Liberal campaign is the considerable improvement in the approval numbers of Jagmeet Singh.

The Liberals are the prime beneficiaries of a weak NDP and if Singh’s approval continue to increase, we can expect to see NDP support rise with it

http://poll.forumresearch.com/m/post/3035/fed-horserace-sept-21-2019

Sun, 2019-09-22 18:52

#316

NorthReport

Jagmeet Singh appears to be the real deal, and has not been drawing a salary until the NDP financial situation improves so the good news is that Jagmeet plans to stick around for awhile. Good on him.

Sun, 2019-09-22 19:07

(Reply to #316) #317

brookmere

NorthReport wrote:
Jagmeet Singh appears to be the real deal, and has not been drawing a salary until the NDP financial situation improves

He's beeen drawing salaries as an MP and leader of a recognized party since he was elected last year. Leaders are not paid by their repective parties unless they don't hold a seat (I can think of a few exceptions at the provincial level). It's true he declined a salary from the NDP from the time he resigned as an Ontario MPP to his election as an MP.

Sun, 2019-09-22 19:50

#318

NorthReport

I think it is very commendable that Jagmeet offered to do this until the NDP finances were in better shape Don’t you agree?

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/8724568-ndp-leader-jagmeet-singh-is-refusing-a-salary-until-party-finances-significantly-improve/

Sun, 2019-09-22 19:57

#319

NorthReport

https://www.google.ca/am

Jagmeet Singh pledges more money to help prevent the disasterous effects of climate change

p/s/www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/canada/article-singh-pledges-more-money-to-prevent-disastrous-effects-of-climate/

Sun, 2019-09-22 20:00

#320

NorthReport

The complicated history of Canadian blackface

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/09/20/Complicated-History-Canadian-Blackface/

Sun, 2019-09-22 20:01

#321

NorthReport

Growing up brown in Canada

https://www.straight.com/news/1305251/taleeb-noormohamed-growing-brown-canada

Sun, 2019-09-22 21:29

#322

NorthReport

Liberals keep trying to change the channel but voters want to discuss blackface

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5293224

Sun, 2019-09-22 21:57

#323

NorthReport

From the main local news publication in a Liberal held riding

About face

https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/editorial-about-face-1.23952075

Sun, 2019-09-22 22:19

#324

NorthReport

Doesn’t look good Liberals, just doesn’t look good. When this brown face story first surfaced I knew it was going to be huge If it had happened to Scheer he probably would have already been replaced and it’s becoming more apparent by the minute that Trudeau is hanging on for dear life. They don’t want the distraction during the election campaign but on October 22nd the next Liberal leadership race will begin in earnest as even if he gets Re-elected prime minister there will be no third term for Justin.

Calgary mayor Nenshi writes writes Op-Ed in Wapo

https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEHkt2liSshzUTD6R1yh5sh0qGQgEKhAIACoHCAowqeP_CjDdg_oCMMTh6QU?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen

Sun, 2019-09-22 22:26

#325

NorthReport

Are Canadians finally turning against Trudeau?

https://www.straight.com/news/1305131/if-andrew-scheer-becomes-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-has-go-liberal-leader

Sun, 2019-09-22 22:33

#326

NorthReport

This is mind-boggling as Justin just seems to be diggin’ a deeper and deeper hole for himself

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-trudeau-refuses-further-comment-on-blackface-issue/

Sun, 2019-09-22 22:40

#327

NorthReport

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tells Quebec television

audience he shares province’s values

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/beta.cp24.com/news/2019/9/22/1_4605305.html

Sun, 2019-09-22 22:49

#328

NorthReport

It’s looking more and more like it’s time for Jagmeet to step up to the plate, eh!

Justin Trudeau - Not so much racist as slight and ineffectual and

The blackface row has exposed the failings of the Canadian prime minister

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/21/justin-trudeau-not-such-racist-shallow-and-ineffectual

Sun, 2019-09-22 23:12

#329

NorthReport

Jagmeet Singh puts NDP back in the race

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/torontosun.com/opinion/editorials/jagmeet-singh-puts-ndp-back-in-race/amp

Mon, 2019-09-23 01:29

#330

NorthReport

Obviously this brownface/blackface issue is not going away anytime soon, so with the dates of the debates approaching, how should Jagmeet Singh deal with Trudeau and Canada’s racism?

Mon, 2019-09-23 01:50

#331

NorthReport

I don’t care what any polls are saying. It is obvious from almost all accounts the Liberals have been dealt a near death blow, are lurching from crisis to crisis over the Trudeau brownface revelations, and don’t appear to be able to find any solutions for their now failing election campaign. And today adding fuel to the fire, Trudeau refused to say if he had been involved in any more brown face incidents

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/world/canadas-trudeau-pushes-on-with-campaign-after-severe-blow-from-blackface-photos-355356/

Mon, 2019-09-23 02:21

#332

jerrym

wrong thread

Mon, 2019-09-23 13:27

#333

Michael Moriarity

I see that Jagmeet Singh was on tlmep this weekend. If anyone watched it, how do you think he did?

Mon, 2019-09-23 15:04

#334

NorthReport

Looks like Singh has just hit another home run!

Any province could veto a major pipeline under an NDP government, says Singh

"I would not impose a project on any province and that means there has to be social acceptability."

An NDP government would grant all provinces veto power over national infrastructure projects that cross their borders, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

The declaration came after Singh unveiled his party's Quebec platform, which would grant that province veto power over infrastructure projects on its territory, including pipelines.

"I would not impose a project on any province and that means there has to be social acceptability," said Singh in an interview with host Vassy Kapelos on CBC News Network's Power & Politics, set to air Monday night.

"I mean, it should be the fact if we want to move forward with a project, there has to be the buy-in from all the people involved."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/powerandpolitics/jagmeet-singh-ndp-provincial-veto-pipeline-1.5288365

Mon, 2019-09-23 15:24

#335

Pondering

Great decision! That is throwing down the gauntlet in a way that he cannot be ignored. The oil industry and Alberta are going to have a huge fit but this is how you ensure Canadian unity.

The MSM cannot ignore this.

Mon, 2019-09-23 18:09

(Reply to #335) #336

cco

Michael Moriarity wrote:

I see that Jagmeet Singh was on tlmep this weekend. If anyone watched it, how do you think he did?

Fine, I guess? Jack Layton set the standard all future NDP leader appearances on TLMEP will be judged by, and I don't think Jagmeet hit that bar, but he didn't make any gaffes that I noticed.

Mon, 2019-09-23 18:23

#337

Michael Moriarity

Thanks.

Mon, 2019-09-23 18:42

(Reply to #337) #338

kropotkin1951

cco wrote:
Michael Moriarity wrote:

I see that Jagmeet Singh was on tlmep this weekend. If anyone watched it, how do you think he did?

Fine, I guess? Jack Layton set the standard all future NDP leader appearances on TLMEP will be judged by, and I don't think Jagmeet hit that bar, but he didn't make any gaffes that I noticed.

So are you comparing Jagmeet's first week's performance in his first campaign to Jack's last appearance in 2011 which I think was at least his third appearance on TLMEP. By then he had developed a good rapport with the host and had been the leader for eight years and was fighting his fourth election campaign.

Tough crowd to please.

Mon, 2019-09-23 22:57

#339

Pondering

I watched it here and he did GREAT!

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/tout-le-monde-en-parle/site/segments/entrevue/133892/jagmeet-singh-politique-chef-npd-nouveau-parti-democratique-canada-federal

He made it clear that he supports LGBTQ and abortion rights etc. which is what worries people about religions they don't understand. Trudeau was challenged on abortion based on his being Catholic. This will do a lot to quiet fears about what his turban means.

He stated that the NDP will not force a pipeline through against the wishes of a province. The NDP is the only party to say so. Respect for provincial rights is big in Quebec.

He talked about taxing the wealthy and making different choices on spending.

There were a few good laughs.

Tue, 2019-09-24 09:13

#340

Paladin1

Conservatives are a guarenteed win in my riding. I think I'll be voting NDP this time around though.

Wed, 2019-09-25 01:10

#341

NorthReport

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh hits his stride early in the campaign

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September 24, 2019

Jagmeet Singh/Twitter

Jagmeet Singh has been getting a lot of good reviews since the official start of the election campaign.

The commentariat generally liked his message discipline in the first debate, which did not include Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, and since then mainstream media have been covering his series of policy announcements with a measure of respect.

While the Liberal and Conservative leaders took a break on the weekend, Singh -- and Green Leader Elizabeth May -- kept campaigning, and got some favourable coverage for targeted policy announcements.

On one day, Singh focused on precarious workers and he explained how two signature NDP policies would make a big difference to them.

One is the relatively small pledge to cap Canada's outrageously high cell phone bills.

The other is the massive commitment to bring in what the NDP calls head-to-toe health coverage. Under that rubric, the NDP leader focused on pharmacare, saying that Canadians who need drugs, especially those in lower income brackets, should not have to pay with their credit cards; they should be able to use their health cards.

That same weekend, Singh also talked climate change, or, at least, climate change mitigation, in Gatineau, Quebec, which suffered a tornado last year and catastrophic flooding this past spring. Singh committed to doubling federal funds to build infrastructure strong enough to withstand the new threats engendered by climate change.

Journalists, and even some pundits, took note of all of that, but they were most impressed by Singh's reaction to the blackface and brownface revelations about Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.

Many have noted and shared video of Singh's initial and very personal response.

Perhaps even more interesting was an open-to-the-media encounter Singh held with a diverse group of young leaders in Toronto last weekend. On this occasion, Singh played moderator and give them the space to express themselves.

The NDP leader reiterated that, for him, the most important aspect of this scandal is not what it says about Trudeau or the current campaign. It is not about a political gotcha moment, or how sincerely a party leader apologizes, or even about what the opinion polls might say. It is about the impact of these public revelations on the many people who have experienced bullying or bigotry or exclusion because of their colour or identity.

One young leader at that Toronto event told Singh that, in his mind, "Black people are trained to forgive" and he was tired of being nice and understanding and turning the other cheek.

A young Black woman said: "When you do an apology it is more, like, saying you made a 'mistake.' But when you do it three times it is not a mistake, it is a choice."

Another echoed those sentiments when she said it was hard for her to understand how somebody could do something like that so many times, adding that the way the media was defining the issue indicated to her that people of colour were "not being taken seriously." She concluded by saying "our race is not a character."

One of the most telling responses came from another young woman who said that while she admired Singh's resort to "love and courage" to deal with the many challenges he has faced, she felt anger at the Trudeau images.

"I am tired of hearing that Canada is not ready for a PM who wears a turban," she told the NDP leader, "but we can have one who wears one as a joke!"

The event showed a side of the NDP leader politicians rarely put on display: how to be a good listener.

To cap the weekend, on Sunday the NDP leader made an appearance on the wildly popular CBC French network television show "Tout le monde en parle," an obligatory rite of passage for leaders who want to raise their profile in Quebec.

The show, which is hosted by Guy A. Lepage and his sidekick Dany Turcotte, blends variety, entertainment and serious stuff such as politics. The audience surrounds the hosts and guests, and politicians have to share the stage with actors, singers, comedians and athletes.

Jagmeet Singh was relaxed and happy in this setting. At one point, when talking about the NDP plan to impose a tax on the wealthiest Canadians, he paused to smile and say "sorry Guy" and got a big laugh.

The show described Singh as "l'anti statu quo," the "anti-status quo," and characterized him as the first racialized leader of a major party in Canada.

Lepage got things rolling by bringing up Singh's turban right away. What do you say to voters who won't vote for a leader who wears visible religious garb, he asked.

Singh talked about the social democratic values he shares with most Quebecers. He expressed his solidarity with Quebec and its distinct culture. He said he fell in love with the French language when he was 11 or 12 and living in a predominantly anglophone part of the country.

One the subject of Quebec's Law 21, Singh did not hide his abhorrence for it, but did promise that he would not advocate for the federal government to take Quebec to court on this issue. Trying to thread the needle in this way has been a difficult exercise for the NDP. It does not seem to have satisfied the many francophones who support a law banning religious symbols for many public servants. At the same time the NDP annoys many others, especially Quebec non-francophones who want federal politicians to confront the Quebec government more forcefully.

When the conversation turned to the environment, Singh declared his unequivocal opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline-twinning project, and went further to say he would never impose a pipeline on Quebec, in effect giving the province a veto power over such projects. The NDP leader seemed to be making new policy here. The next day he said, officially, that an NDP government would not force a mega-project, such as a pipeline, on any province.

Lepage wanted to know how the country's finances could afford such notionally expensive NDP promises as universal access to prescription drugs and dental care. Here Singh got some help from another guest on the show, former Montreal city politician Luc Ferrandez, who was, for many years, a leading figure in the progressive municipal party Projet Montréal, which now governs the city.

Ferrandez jumped in to talk about the steep cost of Conservative and Liberal subsidies to the oil and gas industries and their current promises to cut taxes, in large measure for higher income earners. He pointed out, further, that the Harper government's ill-advised cut to the GST cost the Canadian treasury billions of dollars that could have been put to good use.

Lepage smiled and wanted to know if Singh and Ferrandez had consulted each other before the show.

For his part, Singh talked about the Liberal government's tolerance of tax havens of the sort revealed by the Panama papers which result in billions in lost revenue for Canada. The papers identified a number of well-known Liberal supporters, including a one-time leading fundraiser, as beneficiaries of these tax haven schemes. That fact alone should make voters suspicious of the Liberals' sincerity when they say will do something about these monstrously unfair arrangements.

The interview could not avoid the most recent revelations about Trudeau's dress-up predilections. Singh repeated his earlier position that his main concern was with the impact of the story on members of visible minority communities, not the Liberal leader's behaviour or apology. He did agree with Dany Turcotte that the current Liberal leader seems to have a bizarre fixation with dressing up in costumes.

The NDP leader did well. He was relaxed and affable, and the audience seemed to be with him.

Singh's French is good, but he does make some of the usual anglophone mistakes. English speakers are often bewitched by the fact that each and every French noun has a gender, either masculine or feminine, and that the notional rules for assignment of word gender do not always apply.

The French word for federalism for instance -- fédéralisme -- is masculine, even though it ends with an e, which usually indicates feminine. Singh booted that one, and got his verb tenses and agreements wrong from time to time. His hosts and the audience did not flinch at those small missteps. And Singh has definitely fully mastered the French political and policy lexicon.

When the NDP leader talked about "échapattoires fiscales" (tax loopholes) and "paradis fiscaux" (tax havens) he was fluent and natural and comfortable. He made it sound like he had been using such jargon all his life.

There is still a lot of campaign to go, and much can happen between now and October 21. Many notionally progressive voters will still be bewitched by the idea of so-called strategic voting.

For now, there is good news both for Canada's traditional party of the left and for the progressive side of the political spectrum in general. The dark and dour media narrative about the NDP has changed dramatically, and much for the better.

Karl Nerenberg has been a journalist and filmmaker for more than 25 years. He is rabble's politics reporter.

Image: Jagmeet Singh/Twitter

Jagmeet Singh has proven to be a wicked-good campaigner

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