Battle for Canada’s left: Trudeau versus Singh

Bloomberg

Justin Trudeau swept to power in Canada as a fresh face pledging to tax the rich and help the masses. Now a rival has picked up his playbook.
Halfway through his mandate, Trudeau’s two main challengers are in place for the 2019 election, each younger than he is. To the political right is Conservative Andrew Scheer, Trudeau’s closest competitor in popular support and number of current lawmakers. But it’s the man on the left who could determine the fate of Trudeau’s Liberals.
Jagmeet Singh, 38, the trilingual lawyer elected Oct. 1 as New Democratic Party leader, is taking on the prime minister at his own game, preaching left-leaning policies, a friend-of-the-masses mantra and an urban focus, all while indulging a penchant for selfies.
Singh is looking to cash in on disenchantment as Trudeau fumbles his lofty pledges. “They haven’t actually invested in the social programs we’re proposing or talking about,” he said in an interview. “Their commitments haven’t really rung true.”
The NDP, which has governed provincially but not federally, is a party member of Socialist International, and Singh’s platform evokes shades of Bernie Sanders. He wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 19.5 percent from 15 percent, expand Canada’s universal healthcare system and block Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion, the country’s only major proposed domestic oil pipeline.
“The first thing I would do would be an expanded social program and electoral reform,” he said, listing options such as paying for pharmaceuticals and dental care, big-ticket items not covered in Canada’s public system.