Jagmeet Singh cannot be blamed for lacking consistency in ideas. He said it very clearly during the 2021 federal campaign: for him, a true leader should not worry about areas of jurisdiction, but rather focus on finding solutions.
In his mind, if Quebec does not want to join the dental care and drug insurance programs on which the New Democratic Party (NDP) agreed with the Trudeau government, it is because it is led, like Alberta, by a conservative Prime Minister who does not want to invest in people’s well-being.
Prime Minister Legault had included the NDP in the list of “dangerous” parties, which “threaten the autonomy of the Quebec nation” and for which one should not vote. His boss certainly hasn’t forgotten him.
Political acumen is not Mr. Singh’s primary quality, but we did not expect that he would also seek trouble with Québec solidaire (QS), which was among his rare allies in Quebec, where the intentions of NDP vote is now only 11%, according to the latest Léger poll. His fortress of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie may be reputed to be impregnable, but Alexandre Boulerice will feel even a little more alone.
In a gesture that is unusual to say the least, the New Democratic leader sent a letter of invitation both to the Quebec Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, and to the solidarity spokesperson on the matter, Vincent Marissal, whom he puts in the same basket, saying he was “distraught” to see that the two men “don’t think about people” and prefer to engage in “academic” battles.
Mr. Singh undoubtedly has limited knowledge of the programs of Quebec political parties, but that of QS has been proposing for years the creation of public dental insurance and drug insurance plans that are much more comprehensive than the fragile embryos that result from negotiations between the NDP and the Trudeau government.
He has every right to think that Quebec is not investing enough in health, but the $8,785 per capita that was to be devoted to it in 2023 placed it slightly above the Canadian average ($8,740), behind the Alberta ($9,041), but ahead of Ontario ($8,245), according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
If the NDP leader is of the opinion that the Quebec health network is poorly managed, he will not find many people to contradict him, but what lesson can Ottawa give, which is incapable of properly managing the pay of federal civil servants or equip the Canadian army?
The fact that the federal government collects too much tax in relation to the responsibilities that the Constitution recognizes does not entitle it to decide whether the improvement of Quebec’s insurance plans, already more extensive than those of other provinces, should take precedence over reducing the lists. waiting for surgery or home care.
If we are to believe Mr. Singh, all the prime ministers of Quebec, federalists as well as sovereignists, who, since the Second World War, have tried with more or less success to counter the encroachments of Ottawa were insensitive conservatives to the fate of their constituents who led “academic” battles, even parochial quarrels.
The member for Mercier, the supportive Ruba Ghazal, was stung to see her party being associated with it. She found the tone of the NDP leader’s “paternalistic letter” “insulting”.
Appearing surprised by his reaction, Mr. Singh protested his good intentions. “I just want us to sit down and find solutions,” he said, showing at the same time that he didn’t understand anything or didn’t want to understand. However, the solution is simple: Ottawa just needs to mind its own business and pay compensation to Quebec.
We expected no less from Mme Ghazal, who is the QS spokesperson for sovereignty and Canadian intergovernmental relations. She had made independence the main theme of her campaign for the position of female co-spokesperson and she directs Operation New Quebec, which aims to remobilize young people in relation to the sovereignist project.
It remains that the rise of the Parti Québécois seems to have made QS more concerned about Ottawa’s encroachments on Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction, which Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois previously found of little interest. This also seems to have escaped Mr. Singh, who should instead sit down with his Quebec deputy before the NDP’s voting intentions in Quebec fall within the margin of error.