I received an email message this morning from Jagmeet Singh saying he wanted me to hear directly from him that he had “just ripped up the agreement with the Liberals, effective immediately.” I had already read about it on the CBC and The New York Times websites, nonetheless I appreciated the gesture. I did not appreciate his unilateral action.

I liked the Confidence and Supply Agreement. Not only could it delay another unnecessary election, but it was good to see parties actually co-operating to get the peoples’ business done rather than engaging in the usual schoolboy level sniping.

And as Singh said in his message, the deal resulted in “dental care, free birth control and diabetes medication, first steps for universal pharmacare, a National School Food Program, and long-awaited anti-scab legislation.” An impressive record.

Given that the deal was so productive, and there is so much more to do, one wonders why he did it. Is he simply trying to distance himself from the very unpopular Justin Trudeau? Perhaps. It couldn’t be because Poilievre, engaging in his usual juvenile antics, had inflicted the nickname “Sellout Singh” on him, could it? I think not.

I suspect it had to do with the Liberals sending the rail dispute to arbitration. Singh was irate as his intemperate language indicated, “Justin Trudeau has just sent a message to CN, CPKC and all big corporations—being a bad boss pays off. The Liberals’ actions are cowardly, anti-worker and proof that they will always cave to corporate greed, and Canadians will always pay for it.”

In fact, of course, sending the two parties to arbitration was neither caving to corporate greed nor anti-worker. It was simply attempting to avoid the harm a work stoppage would due to the rest of us, including those thousands of workers in agriculture, mining, forestry, energy, retail, manufacturing, construction, etc.

If this is the reason, then perhaps the NDP is too partial to organized labour. I am a strong supporter of unions myself, but there must be a limit to how much damage to third parties companies can do with their lockouts or unions with their strikes.

In any case, I hope that by ending the agreement, Singh has not jeopardized more good legislation by opening up the possibility of an election earlier than necessary. Pharmacare legislation hasn’t passed the Senate, a bill to implement Elections Act changes is still before the House, and the new dental care program won’t be fully implemented until early next year.

Singh has said, “the NDP is ready for an election, and voting non-confidence will be on the table with each and every confidence measure.” Really? Ready for an election at 20 percent in the polls?

He stated that between now and the election it is “a race between us and the Conservatives.” Expressing confidence, he declared “If we stand united, we will win.” With all due respect, this is delusional. Twenty percent in the polls is hardly a position from which to seriously challenge Mr. Poilievre and friends.

I hope it’s all about staying sweet with the base, particularly the union base, and a little macho posturing. Sensibly, they will continue to keep the Liberals in power to maintain at least the lesser of what they perceive as two evils. The Conservatives are in the catbird seat—delaying the election means delaying the damage, optimistically even avoiding the damage, they plan to do.