In politics, ideological opposites feed off each other

I’m pretty sure NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Canada’s No. 1 socialist, is actually rooting for Pierre Poilievre, Canada’s No. 1 right-wing populist, to win the Conservative Party leadership race. It sounds odd, but Singh needs an enemy.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre. As former prime minister Brian Mulroney once aptly put it, 'In politics ... you need two things: friends, but above all an enemy,' writes Gerry Nicholls. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade and Sam Garcia

Opinion

BY GERRY NICHOLLS

July 6, 2022

OAKVILLE, ONT.—One of the truisms of politics is that ideological opposites feed off each other. For this reason, I’m pretty sure NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Canada’s No. 1 socialist, is actually rooting for Pierre Poilievre, Canada’s No. 1 right-wing populist, to win the Conservative Party l...

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