Singh was trying too hard to turn Weston into a villain. Unfortunately for Singh, Weston demonstrated a far better command of basic economic reality.
We hear a lot about ‘populism’ on the right, and it is often characterized in a negative fashion. Populism can be positive when it represents a return to a greater say for regular people in the democratic process, or it can be negative when it is used as a tool to appeal to ignorance.
But this is not solely a right-wing phenomenon.
Populism – especially in a negative and uninformed iteration – is just as common on the left.
And Jagmeet Singh has been one of the biggest purveyors of it in Canada.
Amid higher food prices, politicians like Jagmeet Singh are seeking scapegoats.
In part, this is to distract attention away from the fact that Singh has often supported policies – like the carbon tax and excessive government spending – that have led to higher inflation and thus higher food prices.
Singh and the NDP even voted against a Conservative motion that would have exempted the food supply chain from the carbon tax.
So, Singh wants to find someone to blame.
And he’s chosen Galen Weston as the targeted ‘villain’ of the story.
For over a week, Singh has been Tweeting about how he was going to confront Weston on the issue of food prices and grocery chain profits.
He brought a huge stack of paper (not so environmentally friendly) of questions from people concerned about grocery store profits.
And, in his emotionally-laden questions to Galen Weston at a Parliamentary hearing on global food insecurity – which Weston had been summoned to – Singh tried extremely hard to get himself a big viral moment fighting against Weston’s supposed ‘greed.’
Unfortunately for Singh, it didn’t go as he planned.
Weston stayed calm – always key in appearing to be the most rational person in an argument – and showed a much better command of the facts than Singh.
If Singh was hoping for a big clash, he didn’t get one.
Instead, Singh came across as desperate and manipulative – especially given that he has little to say about other sectors of the economy – the banking sector for example – that has much higher profit margins than grocery stores.
At one point, Singh even said “profit is too much profit,” a statement that is both stunningly ignorant and unsurprising coming from someone with a socialist mindset.
Instead of looking for scapegoats to falsely blame inflation on, Singh should take some responsibility and stop pushing for the high tax, high spending policies that have made life much more difficult for so many Canadians.
Spencer Fernando
Photos – YouTube
