Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. – Psalm 146:3

Somewhere I have a half-finished post from 2022 that I never got around to sharing here. In it I quoted Psalm 146, warning NDP leader Jagmeet Singh not to trust the Prime Minister, who had just made a deal with Singh for the NDP to prop up the minority Liberal government until the next scheduled election in the fall of 2025.

In it I also suggested he was selling his political soul for a mess of pottage. Looks like I was right.

As part of the deal, the Liberals promised to introduce national dental and pharmacare programs by the end of 2023. The dental program is extremely limited, not the universal program expected. The pharmacare program hasn’t happened yet.

The NDP were les than impressed by the proposed draft legislation establishing the program. The Liberals went back to the drawing board, but have yet to come up with anything acceptable to their partners. The deadline has been extended to March 1, and there are rumblings the NDP are about to pull out of the deal.

For two years the NDP has gone far beyond the wording of the agreement. They have not only voted with the government on confidence matters to keep it in power, they have supported the Liberals at almost every opportunity, including in parliamentary committees. It is as if the parties had merged.

And what does the NDP have to show for two years of slavishly following the Liberal agenda? Basically nothing. They have voted for higher taxes and restrictions of civil liberties and received only promises in return.

Did Jagmeet Singh not recognize what had happened with previous Liberal promises? Or was he too afraid about getting wiped out in an election to hold on to his principles. Now it looks like he has nothing to show for his support of the government. Liberals are laughing at the free ride they have received for the past couple of years as they have plummeted in the polls..

If the NDP withdraw their support for the government, can Canadians can expect a federal election sooner rather than later? I’m not holding my breath. The party will probably find a way to rationalize their support for the government that has betrayed them.

They just paid off their debt from the last election. They have no desire to fight a new one after having spent two years tied to an unpopular government with nothing to show for it.

Many Liberals on the other hand want an election. They know how low their public op0inion polling numbers are. They know their leader has passed his best before date. But he won’t leave on his own. The only way to get rid of him is to lose an election. They just want to get it over with.

They remember that in 1993 the Conservatives were so unpopular they went from majority government to just two seats. They feel if there isn’t an election soon the Liberals might replicate that. The Prime Minister is that unpopular.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. All the experts tell me the Prime Minister wants to hold on and campaign in 2025 against President Trump, figuring no-one in Canada likes Trump.

But Trump’s name isn’t going to be on the ballot here. He may not be the American president in 2025. And it is hard to think Justin Trudeau can do anything at this point to make himself likeable to Canadians.

For the Liberals, the smartest move might be to introduce a pharmacare bill and and a budget next month, both filled with promises Canada can’t afford. Then, before they are passed, call a snap election for April.

They won’t win, but the the longer they wait the bigger their eventual loss will be. As for Jagmeet Singh and the NDP, they can only hope Canadians forgive them for two years of being Liberal puppets with nothing to show for their actions.