With the Greens gaining in the polls, and the Liberals holding on to most of the left-leaning vote, it seems as though Jagmeet is going with a different strategy; out-liberal the Liberals, and out-green the Greens.
As a wise woman once said, “socialism is great until you run out of other people’s money.”
New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh unveiled to the world his new election platform, and it’s chock-full of progressive promises.
Though the new platform sounds nice on paper, it begs the question… Who exactly is paying for all of this?
The promises, which included pledges to deliver a national pharmacare program next year, along with national coverage for dental, vision, hearing and mental health-care costs. These types of care are generally offered to Canadians as benefits by employers, though many workplaces do not.
Canada is approaching $700 billion in debt. A question many Canadians would surely like to ask Mr. Singh is, “will adding this type of national coverage increase, or decrease the debt?” Unless, of course, the New Democrats intend on increasing taxes on regular Canadians, yet again.
Singh also promised a national $10-billion-per-year pharmacare program, that also includes higher taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals.
With the Greens gaining in the polls, and the Liberals holding on to most of the left-leaning vote, it seems as though Jagmeet is going with a different strategy; out-liberal the Liberals, and out-green the Greens.
The 109-page platform also didn’t say much about the cost estimates for its new wave of promises. And although it was just released at an event this week in Hamilton, there are already some crying foul. Health Minister Genette Petitpas Taylor reported told CTV’s Question Period that delivering a national pharmacare program–one of the promises made by the New Democrats—was “not realistic” because it would be up to the provinces and territories themselves to agree to participate.
Of course, Jagmeet’s promised the same old NDP claptrap that we have heard for the last few years. More affordable housing, forcing telecommunication giants to cap cellphone and internet rates, as well as the coveted $15-an-hour minimum wage.
So how will Singh win? Well, if his entire campaign is based on grasping at straws, it may not be the October that the New Democrats hope to see.
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