T he Conservative Party of Canada has finally elected their new leader and the marathon campaigning is over. Now is the time for rebuilding, uniting and getting ready to take on Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in 2019. So what can conservatives do to help?





Join the NDP and vote for Jagmeet Singh to lead the party.





Wait...what?!





Yes, you read that correctly.





Conservatives should hijack the NDP and make sure that Jagmeet Singh is elected leader. But why?









#1 . A strong NDP leads to Conservative wins





When the NDP is strong, it tends to bleed support away from the Liberals. Ever since Jack Layton became NDP leader over a decade ago, the party has been progressively moving in a New Left direction. This was interrupted by Tom Mulcair’s centrist campaign in 2015. Because Mulcair moved to the centre (and appealed to the Old Left), Trudeau was able to hijack the New Left and consequently win a majority in his first attempt. The Liberals and the NDP need to mirror one another in order to cannibalize progressive votes. When the political dynamic consists of Conservatives with a clear centre-right proposition on one side and Liberals & NDP eating each others lunch on the other...Conservatives win. It’s only a left-wing vote split that allows Conservatives to run up the middle and win.









#2 . Jagmeet Singh will steal Justin Trudeau’s thunder





Justin Trudeau bounced onto the national stage and sold himself as an urban, fashionable, social justice warrioring, woke dreamboat. After ten years of Harper’s Nixonian-style, he looked refreshing and voters turned their brains off and jumped on the bandwagon. Many now have buyer’s remorse, but for those who don’t...they can’t get enough. They can’t get enough of their embodied progressive avatar making them proud on the world stage. The only thing better for these voters would be for an even more urban, even more fashionable, even more social justice warrioring, even more woke dreamboat to show up and move Canada even more to the left of the political spectrum.





Jagmeet Singh is that guy.









"He brings a lot of new blood into the race, he will represent a lot of urban, youth-focused issues...I think if I was a Liberal, I wouldn't want to be running against Jagmeet." ~ Kathleen Monk, former director of strategic communications for Jack Layton













#3 . Jagmeet Singh will divide the NDP





I remember watching the NDP leadership race back in 2003 and during the campaign a debate was held in Regina. The crowd was packed full of supporters as each candidate took turns making their pitch to the members. This was Regina and the crowd looked mostly blue collar and rural...there may have been some non-ironically worn cowboy hats even. When the leaders talked about helping the poor or sticking it to big business, the crowd loved it. When they talked about how awesome gay pride parades were and how global warming was a big deal...the crowd was blank. This was the first time I realized how the divide between Old Left and New Left was unfolding.





Most voters in Western Canada and rural Ontario don’t seem to understand that voting NDP and Conservative is supposed to be mutually exclusive. In Saskatchewan, people could vote for the Reform party in the 90’s during a federal election and then vote NDP during a provincial election without batting an eye. Typically these voters are Old Left. They’re socially conservative, but suspicious of corporate power...especially urban centred, “down east” corporate power. These are the hard hats and rancher types. The church going senior types that have no problem with a big social welfare state, but think immigration should be halted. The Old Left would have no problem with increasing minimum wage, but dislike the idea of abortion. They would be fine with more crown corporations, but hate sales taxes. They would like to see free university education, but think aboriginals get a free ride. They believe in universal health-care, but think the military is grossly underfunded. They don’t trust the police, but would gladly see criminals hanged.





Obviously these are generalizations, and various ideological combinations exist, but these voters are most definitely not New Left. A leader like Peter Julian or Charlie Angus is a catastrophe for the Conservative Party. They would bridge the gap between Old Left and New Left and block Conservative expansion in Western Canada and rural Ontario. A New Left NDP leader opens up opportunity for all those alienated Old Left ridings to be captured by Conservatives. (Yes...I’m suggesting the Conservative base can be expanded by incorporating Old Left NDP supporters. More on that in the future...)





Jagmeet Singh will also steal ridings from the Liberals in downtown Vancouver, the lower mainland and Toronto exclusively. Everywhere else he will drain young, urban, New Left, Liberal support like a vampire...allowing Conservatives to run up the middle in unlikely ridings across the country.







