More and more the federal election is an emerging story of the tortoise and the hare and a possible spoiler. It was all so well planned. Justin’s long legs stretched out an insurmountable lead. Erin plodded along mumbling to himself with no one to hear his message. His assorted disagreeable friends threatened to spoil his race. Some even said, the only place for his running shoe was in his mouth. This was to be the biggest mismatch in years. It was settled all the polls were favorable it was time to run.

Then the weather changed from warm fare weather winds to a dampness that tamped down the dust of Justin the Hare’s stride. The chatty turtle just kept bumbling along reading from a policy book with a plan.

It almost looked like the boring details of an old NDP Manifesto from days gone by. Turtle O’Toole was sounding more and more like Tommy Douglas while Justin the Hare was throwing Jelly at the wall hoping something would stick. Up came the abortion divider O’Toole is pro choice so that ain’t it. Private healthcare even the words are sinister but when the full message is distorted it backfires.

This brought up the ugly image of a nasty Halloween costume.
The Hare knocked off stride knew what to do he would dance across the country promising Pharmacare an NDP proposal he rejected only weeks before. Then the big promise, ten dollar a day child care an unfulfilled promise so old the original kids to benefit have all grown up.
Turtle O’Toole is not going to be outdone, he now has swagger in his stride. He promises health recovery benefits for ill workers something his party has rejected since the first melt of the ice age. Come to think of it its an old NDP idea too.

Then the strange rendition of revolutionary change wait for it.
Putting members of the proletariat in the corporate Boardrooms. So the Hare and the Turtle have decided to fill in their traditional tracks in what was becoming a two horse race.
But wait the road to hell is paved with good intentions and promises made with no intention of keeping.

Remember that boring Manifesto I spoke of earlier? Well some are reading it others are listening and the guy who holds the mantle of power in the third party is getting attention. The Hare is losing ground in terms of personal popularity.

Jagmeet Singh is now the most popular of the three leaders.

While it’s unlikely he will form a government any time soon he is poised to raise the fortunes of the party even to the point of taking some of the seats lost in 2019. Justin the Hare in this race is faltering. The problem at the moment for Turtle O’Toole is that the bulk of support is in the prairie region while enough for a minority still exists for Justin.

The great unknown is how much ground can spoiler Singh take from the Liberals? Recent polling saw Singh as their second choice when voting. The other factor that is the great unknown is the fallout from the debates and what surprises will come to the fore in the next three weeks before we cast our ballots.
For those who have forgotten Jack Layton brought the NDP to official opposition status some years back. The Hare and the Turtle are running neck and neck but neither can shake off the spoiler Singh who can still find a wider stride. In my opinion we are headed for another minority, who’s minority is the question..

Fred Steele