HANNAFORD: How does Singh manage to stand himself?

It must be tough to be Jagmeet Singh.First, you call out the Liberals as ‘weak, selfish, beholden to corporate interests, always ready to cave to them’ and committed to ‘keeping the unions powerless.’ You call them everything in fact, except stars of darkness and snatchers of pennies from the eyes of the dead.You put it all out there and people say, ‘Finally, after two years of keeping Mr. Trudeau’s weak, selfish, worthless Liberals in power, by George, I do believe he’s got it. He’s even ripped up his agreement with them. Ripped it up, I say. Two pieces.’Then the Conservatives, thinking no doubt to save the time it takes to write their own non-confidence motion — which by the rules of Parliament it is now their turn to propose — take his words and include them in their motion, thusly:1. “Whereas the leader of the NDP said he ‘ripped up’ his supply and confidence agreement with the Liberal government”2. “Whereas the NDP leader said, ‘the Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people’”3. “Whereas the NDP leader said, ‘the Liberal government will always cave to corporate greed, and always step in to make sure the unions have no power.’“Therefore, the House agrees with the NDP Leader, and the House proclaims it has lost confidence in the Prime Minister and the government,” states the motion, that will come up for a vote next week.Sounded about right to us, gathered as we were around the copper-bound ablative absolute machines in the Western Standard basement.But finally, to our amazement, Mr. Singh said that while he ‘didn’t want a Liberal government,’ he wouldn’t let the Opposition parties “call the shots.” Seriously, he really said that. .Singh to vote against non-confidence motion — even though it quotes his own words.None of that silly nonsense about ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ with our high-minded Jagmeet, leader of the 25-strong pack of NDP underdogs that unworthily — and frankly, uselessly — holds the balance of power in the House of Commons.So to put it plainly, he intends to vote against his own words, and support the unworthy, the selfish and the corporate toadies. He doesn’t ‘want Justin Trudeau as prime minister.’ But dear heavens, he will not play the game of the Bloc and the Conservatives… “No, I am not going to play their game,” replied Singh to a reporter’s enquiry.What a man of principle.But, what principle?To that point, I am not among those who think he’s just hanging on for his MP pension, that vests in February. The rest of the NDP, not so much; being an MP is the best job they’ve ever had or likely will have. They'll need the money. But Singh himself is independently wealthy and whether ‘the Maserati’ is his or not, the Rolex is and Mr. Singh is not going to be stuck driving somebody else’s school bus when his time is up..'IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S!' Singh claims the Maserati isn't his.So for him, it’s not the money.But then you have to ask yourself if not the money, what it possibly can be?Taking one for the team is all very well. But, where's the reward in this, what feeling of accomplishment, or end-of-day satisfaction at having nobly represented the people?Just how many times can he back sheepishly away from the reckoning he claims to want, how many times can he eat his words — as apparently he means to next week — and how much personal humiliation can Jagmeet Singh take, and still believe he has anything to offer that people could ever want to vote for?Frankly, I can't imagine. Let's leave it as a rhetorical question.

HANNAFORD: How does Singh manage to stand himself?

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