NDP’s Singh raps PM on voting reform
First-past-the-post didn’t stop Doug Ford, leader tells party’s caucus to applause
SURREY, B.C. — Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh took aim at conservative politicians Wednesday while lambasting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for abandoning a campaign promise to bring in electoral reform.
Singh told his caucus during a retreat in Surrey, B.C., that Trudeau’s explanation for disavowing the promise was that he was worried a new electoral system might facilitate the rise of farright, fringe parties.
“First-past-the-post didn’t stop Doug Ford from coming into power in Ontario,” Singh said, to laughs and applause from NDP members of Parliament.
“It didn’t stop him from using the notwithstanding clause to continue a petty vendetta against the City of Toronto, to abrogate our charter rights to continue this vendetta.”
Ford announced Monday he would invoke the rarely used clause to overrule a court decision and reduce the size of Toronto’s city council from 47 councillors
‘‘ We’ve got to bring in electoral reform to bring power and voice to people. JAGMEET SINGH One student airlifted after school bus collision The Canadian Press
to 25.
Singh, a former NDP member of Ontario’s legislature, also noted first-past-the-post didn’t stop Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer from appointing a former Rebel Media news director as his campaign head.
Conservative Party spokesperson Cory Hann confirmed Hamish Marshall will be the party’s campaign manager but didn’t have an immediate statement on Singh’s comments.
The current electoral system also didn’t stop Quebec MP Maxime Bernier from launching an “anti-immigrant” political party, Singh added.
Bernier left the Conservatives to start his own party last month after butting heads with Scheer over supply management and making headlines with controversial tweets about immigration
and diversity.
When an electoral system allows the views of a minority to win out over the majority, it doesn’t stop fringe politicians, it encourages them, Singh said.
“That’s why we’ve got to stop it. We’ve got to bring in electoral reform to bring power and voice to people.”
The caucus retreat has arrived at a challenging time in Singh’s year-old tenure as leader as he faces criticism from party loyalists about his effectiveness and weak fundraising.
He drew several standing ovations and cheers from his caucus during the broad speech. He also spoke at length about the NDP’s support of universal prescription
drug coverage and its opposition to the Liberal government’s $4.5billion purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Singh cast the Liberals as a party beholden to wealthy donors.
The majority of the richest and most powerful people in Canada donate to the Liberals because they know the party won’t address tax fairness by closing tax loopholes or offshore tax havens, he said.
“They won’t do that work. They know that they’re going to defend the interests of the wealthy,” he said.
“It’s a great investment for the richest in Canada but the rest of Canadians pay the price.” INNISFIL, ONT. — A school bus crash in central Ontario left three high school students with serious injuries on Wednesday as police tried to piece together the cause of the incident.
South Simcoe Police Service spokesperson Sue Sgambati said all 14 of the students on board the bus bound for a high school near Innisfil, Ont., were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure, with three being treated for serious injuries.
One of those three, Sgambati said, was airlifted to a Toronto trauma centre for treatment. None of the students’ injuries are believed to be life-threatening, she added.
Ontario’s air ambulance service Ornge confirmed that it had taken one student from the scene about 100 kilometres north of Toronto and described the student’s condition as critical.
Sgambati said the collision between the bus and a pickup truck, which took place around 7:45 a.m., occurred in foggy weather.
“Fog is being investigated as a possible cause, but we’re appealing for witnesses,” she said.