![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Our new fearless leader
Oct. 1st, 2017 06:52 pm Jagmeet Singh orange-crushed the NDP leadership race. So, congratulations to him!
Now, it's not a secret that he wasn't my first choice, but I've also mainly stayed out of the leadership discussion, a) because I'm not actually that invested, since I preferred all four candidates to Mulcair, and b) because the NDP would basically have to run a Cthuloid abomination before I'd vote for either of the other two mainstream parties. (And even then, soul-devouring vs. Bill C-51? Just how many tentacles are we talking?)
And some things about him are quite cool, including that he is the first person of colour to be elected as the leader of a major federal party in Canada. I'm not going to downplay how significant that is.
Whether or not he was one's first choice, when the world is going to shit and the alternatives are a born-to-rule Stepford Smiler and an underbaked theocrat, charm and electability—which Jagmeet has in droves—are crucial qualities. As for policy specifics, it's important for Canadians to remember that we have a parliamentary, not a presidential system, your local MP matters, and it's incumbent on party members (of which I am now, awkwardly, one) to guide the party to the left.
So, yes. I wish him the best, and hope that we can all work towards a country that doesn't spend $110K in legal fees preventing a First Nations child from getting a $6000 dental procedure while taking Orange Shirt Day selfies and selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Forward, etc.
Now, it's not a secret that he wasn't my first choice, but I've also mainly stayed out of the leadership discussion, a) because I'm not actually that invested, since I preferred all four candidates to Mulcair, and b) because the NDP would basically have to run a Cthuloid abomination before I'd vote for either of the other two mainstream parties. (And even then, soul-devouring vs. Bill C-51? Just how many tentacles are we talking?)
And some things about him are quite cool, including that he is the first person of colour to be elected as the leader of a major federal party in Canada. I'm not going to downplay how significant that is.
Whether or not he was one's first choice, when the world is going to shit and the alternatives are a born-to-rule Stepford Smiler and an underbaked theocrat, charm and electability—which Jagmeet has in droves—are crucial qualities. As for policy specifics, it's important for Canadians to remember that we have a parliamentary, not a presidential system, your local MP matters, and it's incumbent on party members (of which I am now, awkwardly, one) to guide the party to the left.
So, yes. I wish him the best, and hope that we can all work towards a country that doesn't spend $110K in legal fees preventing a First Nations child from getting a $6000 dental procedure while taking Orange Shirt Day selfies and selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Forward, etc.
