NDP leader Jagmeet Singh: Why he hasn't connected with Canadians

The SNC-Lavalin controversy is showing no end in sight after taking a dramatic turn this week when the prime minister’s right-hand man resigned.

Gerald Butts, a top Liberal aide and longtime friend to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stepped aside from his principal secretary role in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) amid allegations of political interference in the criminal court case of SNC-Lavalin, a Montreal-based construction giant accused of fraud and corruption.

Butts’ resignation comes less than a week after former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould left Trudeau’s cabinet amid the controversy. Both Butts and Trudeau have denied allegations that the PMO pressured the now-former attorney general to intervene in the case of SNC-Lavalin, as reported by The Globe and Mail.

“This is the biggest political crisis that the Liberals have faced since 2015 and it opens the door for all opposition parties to capitalize on that,” former NDP national director Karl Belanger told Yahoo Canada. “There are very serious allegations at play … This is not good news for the Liberals.”

The Liberals “have been running into major troubles lately,” according to Belanger. Canada’s ambassador to China resigned last month, a week after the Liberal candidate for the Burnaby South byelection stepped aside. Now, the Liberals are facing claims so serious that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called for a public inquiry into the matter.

Another option for voters

Enter the NDP, a party that has been floundering in the polls since Singh took over as leader. Less than two weeks ago, pollster Nik Nanos was on CTV News discussing numbers that suggested “bad news for the New Democrats.” Earlier this month, Nanos Research had the NDP trailing behind the Liberals and Conservatives with only 13 per cent support nationwide.

“We sort of slipped back into a period where people see the party system as a two-party system,” Sanjay Jeram, senior politics lecturer at Simon Fraser University, told Yahoo Canada. “[Singh] hasn’t really found a way out of that.”

After 15 months as NDP leader, the former Ontario MPP is still trying to secure a seat in the House of Commons. The Feb. 25 byelection in Burnaby South — one of three scheduled for that day — could be Singh’s chance to finally get some much-needed momentum heading into the fall election.

But not everyone is happy about the Scarborough, Ontario native’s run for a seat in a riding he doesn’t live. One Burnaby, B.C. resident ruffled feathers this week after calling out Singh’s actions “disgusting”. In a poll conducted by Yahoo Canada, 90 per cent of readers frowned upon the idea of a politician running for a position outside his home riding.

The pressure is on Singh to secure a victory in a seat last held by former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart. CBC News reported last month that NDP MPs warned Singh his days as leader are over if he doesn’t win his byelection.

“He was showing so much potential during the leadership race, but that has not materialized with the general public, at least not until now,” Belanger said. “I would argue that he’s still a fairly unknown entity to Canadian voters. So that’s a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity.”

While Belanger admits the learning curve has been steeper than most would have expected, he adds there’s still time for the NDP to turn things around.

Jeram says from what he has heard from people on the ground, the new leader is performing “fairly admirably” and showing dedication. “He’s knocking on doors every day,” Jeram revealed.

Belanger acknowledges the key to success for Singh will be showing that he can grow the party. The New Democrats won 44 seats in 2015, the second-most in the party’s history.

“Can Jagmeet Singh build on that and do better? That really is the litmus test for Jagmeet Singh and his long-term tenure as a leader,” Belanger explained. “He needs to find a way to connect with [voters] and to tell a story that they can relate to. So far, he has been unable to establish that kind of narrative.”

There’s no guarantee it will be easy, but the SNC-Lavalin controversy could be the kink in Trudeau’s armour that turns the tide for the NDP. Belanger says the time is now for Singh to capitalize.

“The opportunity is there for the NDP to rebound and capture a share of the voters they’ve lost since 2015.”