so, they've just grown a beard to spite their face.

it is likely that history records this victory as a brutally pyrrhic one, but here we have it - jagmeet singh is entering parliament as the leader of the third party, on the same day that the liberals retake outremont.

the ndp had exactly zero seats in quebec for something like 70 years. but, people forget that the ndp vote came mostly from the bloc, who lost party status as a consequence of the ndp's surge in 2011. everything is suggestive of a bloc resurgence, right now, as the ndp roll up like a carpet.

they will probably lose party status in october, as they seek to rebrand themselves in a post-industrial economy as a right-leaning alternative for disaffected minority groups. whatever you think of this, it opens up a dramatic vacuum in the balance of power, as a large (if shrinking) voting block in canada slowly becomes disenfranchised.

if i'm right about what they're doing, the new ndp could very well win power within a decade, but the left is unlikely to be very supportive of their policy positions, when they do - it will be as a neo-liberal party in the image of the american democrats. and, this realignment i've been talking about for what is now a couple of years is going to need to find a new party to exist on the left, or risking forfeiting dominance to the right, as former ndp voters sign faustian deals with a conservative party that is just looking to take advantage of them. 

singh didn't create this and isn't fully at fault for it, but it's up to voters to adjust to what is unfolding in the way that is most in their own interests.

i always thought the ndp were better off entering into a coalition with the bloc than trying to displace them. but, we need to find a way to do some serious organizing in ontario.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-jagmeet-singh-wins-burnaby-south-by-election-clearing-leadership