As Jagmeet Singh’s disastrous run of the NDP has shown, left wing politicians will always inevitably let you down. Whether it’s relentlessly pushing to the centre to court more votes, never enacting on their promises even when they have the power to do so, or just good old fashioned infighting, “the left” will always end up disappointing.
But, how disappointing will they be?
Let’s look at the hopefuls vying to run the NDP and take it in a bold, new direction, and then rank them based on how much they’re going to inevitably not accomplish any of that.
- Heather McPherson
She was around for that last election, so she’s already dashed your hopes by that fact alone. You’d just be getting more of the same, so, is that really a ‘new’ disappointment?
- Rob Ashton
Ashton delivers speeches about fighting for the working class like he’s Winston Churchill giving his, “We shall fight on the beaches,” speech. If this was a list ranking them based just on how much they made you want to stand up and cheer like the Leafs just scored a late overtime goal, he’d be at the top. But it ain’t that kind of list.
- Tony McQuail
Uh… Who? Next!
- Tanille Johnston
Johnston wants to invest heavily in local public transit and alternative means of transportation across Canada. You know this is not going to happen. Nobody goes up against the car-brained NIMBYs who think a single painted bike lane makes their commutes take an hour longer each way and wins. If you’re excited about this proposal, stop, it’s not going to happen. Maybe go lie down for a bit.
- Thomas Joseph Mulcair
Look, he was just that disappointing, and he’s like 50% of the reason the NDP is in this mess to begin with. The beard makes the list.
Honourable Mention: Yves Engler
Engler is unranked but still mentioned for an important reason: He hasn’t officially submitted an application! So, if you’re a fan of his and want him to win, he’s already disappointed you, and if you’re not, well, you can’t be disappointed at all. Schrodinger’s disappointing candidate!
- Avi Lewis
There’s a lot of hype behind Lewis. He’s inspiring the youth, is incredibly approachable, promises to address cost of living by implementing a wealth tax, capping rent, and opening publicly run grocers, and his launch video has reached and inspired tens of thousands of Canadians.
There’s just one small problem.
All of these positives were also true with Jagmeet Singh, and, well, we all remember how that turned out.
