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| Mayor Lee Brain, members of City Council and MLA Jennifer Rice all had a chance to spend some time with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh during his swing through the Northwest this summer (photo from Mayor Brain's political Facebook page) |
For embattled NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, the summer of 2018 may be his go to happy spot this fall, those carefree days of travel across the Northwest in July of this year with his pal Nathan Cullen, making for a fond remembrance, something to play the counterbalance to the growing push back towards his leadership of the party at the moment.
To say that Mr. Singh has had a bad end of summer (and to be honest much of the months prior) would be an understatement.
The NDP's polling numbers are providing for some alarming results in many parts of Canada, the coffers are considerably bereft of cash to launch an electoral battle and there's a growing bit of momentum from many in the grass roots to give some thought if perhaps he is not the one to best lead the party into the 2019 election period.
Things appear to be heading to a boil when it comes to his leadership of the party, with a Western revolt brewing from the heart of the NDP itself Saskatchewan, where a collection of 66 former Saskatchewan MPs and MLA's have signed a letter that expresses their concern over his handling of the expulsion of Saskatchewan MP Erin Weir.
Mr. Signh also has not made many friends within the Alberta wing of the NDP, which is alarmed at how he has not taken heed of NDP leader Rachel Notley's concerns over the Trans Mountain pipeline and other issues.
Add in some tumbling support in Quebec, where the party once had a strong grasp on the political scene and there are many fearing that the next election may return the NDP to the days of not much more than the conscience of Parliament.
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The gathering storm over Mr. Singh's leadership could heat up significantly this week in Surrey, as the NDP hosts a caucus session in British Columbia, where it's expected that party members will take stock of their situation.
Mr. Cullen was one of the first to throw his support to the then Ontario MLA as he began his quest for the NDP leadership one year ago, in effect becoming the NDP kingmaker heading towards the October 2017 convention that put Mr. Singh into the top position.
However, as the summer troubles began to percolate, other than some comments to the Globe and Mail about this weeks caucus session in BC, we haven't heard much publicly from the NDP MP to indicate where he stands when it comes to the leader and how he has handled some of the issues that have since come to haunt his leadership of late.
As one of the key party officials and among the longest serving of MP's, those among the membership of the party (as well as those living in his home riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley ) might be interested to know what Mr. Cullen thinks of the current revolt that the leader seems to be facing.
As well, Mr. Cullen might be able to offer up some thoughts as to how the NDP may navigate itself out of what is shaping up to be a rather loud family feud and a stalled leadership that doesn't seem to be resonating much with NDP supporters, let alone those undecided voters that can turn an election.
With the 2019 election year fast approaching the NDP doesn't have much time to get its ship in order and to return to delivering its message to the voters, otherwise as things look at the moment, Mr. Cullen may be a fairly lonely fellow in Parliament once Canadians go to the polls next year.
The Federal NDP has already done some of its own polling of sorts on the state of Mr. Singh's leadership, with the party sending out a survey of members to rate the leader on scale of 1 to 5.
Though judging by some of the commentary from the cradle of the founding of the party, many of the results may already be in.
You can follow more notes of interest on Parliament from our archive page here,
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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