Jagmeet Singh

Singh provided pro bono consulting to an activist group that protested the visit to Canada of Kamal Nath, the Indian trade minister who had persecuted Sikhs and had allegedly led armed mobs during the 1984 Delhi pogrom.[27][28] After failing to get their views heard, Singh was inspired to run for office by the activist group so their concerns could be better represented.[27]

Singh began his political career with his decision to run for Member of Parliament in the 2011 federal election as the NDP candidate in the riding of Bramalea—Gore—Malton.[27] During the election, Singh stopped using his surname, Dhaliwal (which is connected to caste), because he wanted to signal his rejection of the inequality inherent in the Indian caste system. Instead, he chose to use Singh, which reflects the spiritual belief in an egalitarian society where all enjoy equitable access to rights and justice.[27] Although he was defeated by Conservative candidate Bal Gosal by 539 votes, Singh finished ahead of incumbent Liberal MP Gurbax Singh Malhi.[5][6]

Singh ran in the 2011 Ontario provincial election as the NDP candidate in the overlapping provincial riding, and defeated Liberal incumbent Kuldip Kular by 2,277 votes.[6][7] Singh became the first Ontario NDP MPP to represent the Peel Region as well as the first turban-wearing MPP.[6][29] In the 40th Parliament of Ontario, Singh was appointed as the NDP critic for the Attorney General of Ontario and for the Consumer Services.[30] Singh also served as his party's deputy house leader.

In March 2012, Singh introduced a private member's bill called "An Act to Amend the Insurance Act" to address high auto insurance rates. This bill would have removed the industry practice of basing insurance rates on geographic location. The bill failed to pass second reading.[31]

In March 2013, Singh introduced a motion calling on the Liberal government to reduce auto insurance premiums by 15%.[32] Singh's motion was accepted by the legislature, and the 15% reduction was to be included in the Liberal Government's 2013 Provincial budget.[33]

Singh at a community BBQ in 2014

In November 2014, Singh voted against the government's legislation entitled "Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Rates Act", after arguing there were major shortcomings in the legislation regarding the driver's right to sue auto insurance companies. Singh said, "removing more protections for people is not the right way to go, it's a significant loss of our rights, and this is not a good bill."[34]

In November 2015, Singh introduced a private member's bill to the legislature regarding Tarion. Tarion was created by the provincial government in 1976 to be the regulator of the province's homebuilding industry.[35] Singh's proposed legislation would give the Ontario Ombudsman the jurisdiction to investigate the practices of the corporation, as well as force Tarion to produce a detailed track record of their builds, and include all of their employees who make over $100,000 on the sunshine list. The proposed legislation would also subject Tarion bylaws to the approval of the provincial government.[36]

In December 2013, legislation introduced by Singh to have the month of April recognized as Sikh Heritage Month in the province of Ontario was passed by the legislature.[37]

Singh has called for greater police accountability and demanded the provincial government draft legislation to strengthen Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU). He criticized the Attorney General after the release of a report by the Ombudsman André Marin that found the province had undermined the SIU. Singh said, "The comprehensive failure of the ministry to address concerns about the SIU and give it a proper mandate is simply unacceptable, and I expect immediate action from the new Attorney General."[38]

In October 2015, Singh introduced a motion calling on the government to instruct police services in Ontario to end arbitrary street checks, known as carding.[39] On October 22, 2015, the legislature unanimously passed Singh's motion.[40]

Singh was a critic of the province's handling of the Ornge Air Ambulance service and called for greater oversight of the agency. Ornge was the subject of an investigation that found the air ambulance service paid a $1.4 million salary to its president while failing to provide timely emergency services. Singh said, "No more flying blind at Ornge. The people of Ontario have been paying the bills at Ornge with scarce health dollars. They deserve the facts about what's happened. A key first step is making executive contracts immediately available to the public."[41]

In May 2012, Singh introduced a private member's bill called "An Act to amend the Consumer Protection Act, 2002" to address high fees on overseas money transfers.[42] The bill died on the order paper when the legislature was prorogued in September 2012.[43]

Singh sparked controversy when he introduced a private members bill to allow turban-wearing Sikhs to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. After the motion was denied, Singh released statement declaring "While the Wynne Liberals are happy to pay lip service to civil rights, when the rubber meets the road, this so-called activist premier is quick to deny the Sikh community rights recognized elsewhere". Wynne countered by stating that "Mortality rates have gone down 30 per cent and head injury rates down 75 per cent in jurisdictions with such (motorcycle helmet) laws".[44]

In June 2015, Singh was chastised by Ontario's integrity commissioner for the improper use of legislative resources meant for his constituency office for partisan purposes. The integrity commissioner's report found that in March 2015, Singh had improperly allowed his constituency office in Brampton to organize bus trips to take supporters to a partisan federal NDP rally in Toronto and that Singh's inclusion of a donation link on his constituency website contravened parliamentary convention. Because Singh did not intentionally break the ethics policy and had proactively acted to fix the breaches when alerted, he was not fined or otherwise punished, and the integrity commissioner only recommended that Singh's staff undergo additional training.[45]

In December 2016, Singh spoke out against the motion introduced by PC MPP Gila Martow, which called for the legislature to denounce the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.[46]

On October 20, 2017, after winning the federal NDP leadership race, Singh resigned as MPP.[47]

During the Alberta general election in May 2015, Singh campaigned for the Alberta New Democratic Party, reaching out to voters on behalf of Irfan Sabir, who was running in Calgary-McCall. Sabir was later elected, and was appointed to Premier Rachel Notley's cabinet as Minister of Social Services.[48] Singh also campaigned for the BC NDP and Nova Scotia NDP in those provinces' 2017 elections.[49]

Singh endorsed and campaigned for Wab Kinew in the Manitoba NDP's 2017 leadership race.[49]

After Tom Mulcair lost a leadership review vote at the 2016 federal NDP convention, Singh was considered a potential leadership candidate, winning the support of 11 per cent of NDP members in a Mainstreet Research poll conducted in April 2016, and was statistically tied for second place.[50] Singh was considered a leading candidate to replace Horwath as NDP leader if she lost the 42nd Ontario general election.[28][51] He announced his intention to run for the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada at a campaign launch on May 15, 2017, in Brampton.[52]

In August, Singh created controversy when he claimed that his candidacy had led to 47,000 sign-ups for the party.[53] Several rival campaigns, most notably Charlie Angus's, accused Singh of inflating party membership sign-ups.[54] A poll by Mainstreet Research was released in September, showing Singh overtaking Charlie Angus to lead the race for NDP leadership for the first time with 27.3 per cent of the vote.[55] Several days before the leadership vote, a video of Singh confronting a heckler, who accused him of plotting to subject Canada to sharia law, went viral leading to Singh getting praise for his handling of the situation and helping him win the NDP leadership.[56][57][58][59]

Singh speaks at an Ontario Federation of Labour convention several weeks after winning the New Democratic Party leadership election

Singh was elected leader of the federal NDP in the 2017 New Democratic Party leadership election on October 1, 2017, having won on the first ballot with 53.8 per cent of the vote.[60] Soon after his election as leader, Singh named leadership rival Guy Caron as parliamentary leader of the NDP.[61]

Shortly after his election as leader, CBC journalist Susan Bonner was criticized for appearing to mistakenly identify Navdeep Bains, a Liberal MP and cabinet minister, as Singh on Twitter. Singh and Bains are both turban-wearing, bearded Sikh men of South Asian descent. Bonner later apologized for the misunderstanding and deleted the tweet.[62]

In an interview with Bloomberg, Singh explained that he would not rule out working with the Conservatives to topple a federal government led by Trudeau if the NDP held the balance of power in a minority parliament.[63]

In February 2018, Singh suspended MP Erin Weir from the NDP caucus pending an independent investigation made into sexual harassment allegations made against him. Weir was formally expelled from caucus on May 3, 2018, based on the outcome of the sexual harassment investigation, which found one claim of harassment and three claims of sexual harassment.[64] On September 6, 2018 Singh had rejected Weir's request to rejoin the NDP during a meeting in June, despite Weir stating that he had worked with a personal trainer to understand the issues of the complaint.[65]

While the convention in Canada is for a newly elected party leader to enter the House of Commons by winning a by-election in a safe seat, Singh initially opted to lead the NDP from outside of Parliament. He indicated that he preferred to run in a seat where he feels a "genuine connection" rather than any "safe" seat. Singh had stated that he would most likely run in Brampton East, which includes the bulk of his old provincial riding, in the 2019 election.[66] Soon after his election as leader, Singh named leadership rival Guy Caron as parliamentary leader of the NDP.[61]

On August 8, 2018, however, Singh announced he would be running in a by-election to replace Kennedy Stewart as the Member of Parliament for Burnaby South. Stewart had resigned in order to make an ultimately successful bid for Mayor of Vancouver.[67] Singh relocated to Burnaby for the election[68] and won on February 25, 2019, with 38.9 per cent of the vote.[3]

On October 21, 2019, Singh was re-elected to the Burnaby South riding.[69] The NDP won 24 seats, down from 44 seats at the 2015 election. However, the incumbent Trudeau Liberal government failed to retain its majority, allowing the NDP to share the balance of power in the parliament.[70] It was the lowest seat count for the NDP since 2004, and the party was passed by the Bloc Québécois as the third-largest parliamentary party.[71] The NDP lost all but one of its seats in Quebec, where it was suggested that Singh's Sikhism may have been negatively received by voters in the context of the Quebec ban on religious symbols.[72]

Singh supports decriminalizing possession of all drugs and treating drug use as a medical issue rather than a criminal issue.[13]

Singh's economic policy states that "millions of Canadians are living in poverty".[73] Singh supports a progressive tax system[74] and supports eliminating several tax deductions available to the highest-income earners and redirect the money to low-income seniors, workers and disabled Canadians.[75] Singh's tax agenda during the 2017 New Democratic Party leadership election included creating new tax brackets for the highest-income earners and raising corporate tax.[76]

Singh supports a $15/hour minimum wage, the imposition of Canadian sales taxes on paid on-demand internet video providers (also referred to as a "Netflix tax"),[77] and a universal pharmacare system, stating "universal healthcare is essential when we talk about equality for all Canadians". The NDP have stated that closing tax loopholes on the ultra rich would fund a universal pharmacare program. After the Federal Budget of 2018 was released, Singh criticized the Liberals' plan for research into pharmacare with no funding behind it, calling it "not a plan but a fantasy".[78]

Singh has promised to incentivize the building of 500,000 units of affordable housing by removing the federal tax burden on new affordable housing projects.[79]

Singh wants to reduce the carbon emissions levels of Canada to 30% of 2005 levels by 2025. This would be done by assisting provinces with the 2030 "coal phaseout", implementing a zero emissions vehicle agenda, "greening" the tax system by adding subsidies to companies supporting ecology and building renewable energy supergrid.[80] Singh also supports creating more accountability in climate change policy by creating an independent officer of parliament mandated to report on interim progress on emission reductions (Climate Change Action Officer or CCAO), tasking the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD) to the Auditor General with gathering data from each province and territory and appointing an advisory group composed of regional and topic-specific experts who will support the CCAO in interpreting data presented by the CESD and assessing implications for climate, energy, and economic policies and regulations.[81] Singh opposes the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project, citing environmental concerns.[82]

Singh has promised that the NDP would build charging stations for electric vehicles at federal buildings and Canada Post locations and offer residents up to $600 to install their own plug-in chargers at home.[83] Jagmeet Singh initially supported the LNG natural gas facility in British Columbia. After the NDP lost Nanaimo in a by-election to Green Party, Jagmeet Singh changed his position a week later and now opposes the LNG natural gas facility [84].

During the Lac-St. Jean by-election campaign, he said he would respect the outcome of a Quebec independence referendum.[85]

Singh is a strong advocate for equality. Recounting a personal experience where he was the subject of racial profiling, Singh has strongly supported legislation for a federal ban on carding, calling the practice a form of systemic racism. Singh also called on the federal Liberal government to scrap the mandatory minimum sentencing rules introduced by the former Conservative government, saying the legislation has not reduced crime and has a disproportionate impact on racialized communities.[86][87]

Singh has urged Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party to allow cities to ban handguns.[88]

Singh at the Toronto Pride Parade in 2017

Singh supports LGBTQ rights.[89] Singh believes in training the RCMP in "LGBTQI2S+ competency training" to ensure interactions with law enforcement are not stigmatizing or traumatizing.[90] Singh also supports bringing a form of affirmative action for hiring of LGBTQ people and supports more inclusive shelter and transitional housing spaces in service of LGBTQ youth.[91]

Singh advocates for Health Canada conducting research on the health care needs and experiences of LGBTQ patients and advocates for policy changes allowing people to self-declare their gender.[92] Singh also supports immediately repealing the de facto ban on blood, tissue and organ donation by men who have sex with men and trans women who have sex with men.[93]