Jagmeet Singh has probably been sleeping very badly since Monday. And not just because he’s a young dad.
Popular wisdom would have it that the leader of the NDP has a lot to lose from the federal crusade against the Chinese giant TikTok.
Civil servants no longer have access to it on their professional laptops.
Ditto for the deputies from Friday evening. But they can still continue to use the video platform on their personal device.
Jagmeet Singh has decided to take a break from social media. Will he come back?
After all, he has by far the most subscribers – 880,000 – of all Canadian politicians.
In comparison, Pierre Poilievre, also a master of social networks in his own way, had 240,000 before suspending his account. Justin Trudeau is not even there.
That said, if popularity on TikTok was everything, Jagmeet Singh would be prime minister.
Not serious
However, the leader of the NDP has been leveling off for years. Under Singh, the party is comfortably ensconced in the seat of parliament’s good conscience.
Power, which seemed within reach under Layton and Mulcair, is now just an old dream.
Worse, the party itself is far from convinced that the leader’s feverish presence on social networks brings him closer to power.
In its internal 2021 election performance report, the NDP points out that “Jagmeet’s notoriety on TikTok makes it look less serious, which needs to be fixed.”
What if getting away from TikTok was a blessing, an opportunity to refocus your message, to appear, precisely, more serious in the eyes of those who scrupulously go to the polls? Because after all, Jagmeet Singh has a big year ahead of him.
Voting of union members
The Liberals continue to pound on his left wing, and now Poilievre wants his piece of the labor pie too.
And they went well. The Conservatives have made considerable gains with their new leader in voting intentions among union members, according to an Abacus poll published this week.
They even managed to reverse the trend, so that they have dominated both the Liberals and the NDP in this segment of the electorate since Poilievre took over!
Under Mr. Singh, the party preferred to address the urban left with the sauce Quebec solidaire, rather than the workers. We cannot say that this turn is filled with success.
Nor can it be said that his alliance with the Liberals pays off politically.
The NDP succeeded in pushing Justin Trudeau to be more generous by expanding the social safety net, particularly with dental care. But he does not reap the benefits in terms of support in the voting intentions.
It was to be expected, but Jagmeet Singh needs to find a way to take credit for it, to convince ordinary Canadians that the federal checks they receive in these difficult times of inflation, it’s a bit much thanks to him .