Singh cites Ford win to push for vote reform
SURREY — Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh took aim at conservative politicians on Wednesday while lambasting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for abandoning a promise to bring in electoral reform.
Singh told his caucus during a retreat in Surrey that Trudeau’s explanation for disavowing the promise was that he was worried a new electoral system might facilitate the rise of far-right, 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 invoked the rarely used clause on Wednesday to overrule a court decision and reduce the size of Toronto’s city council from 47 councillors 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 spokesman Cory Hann confirmed Hamish Marshall will be the party’s campaign manager.
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.
The caucus retreat has arrived at a challenging time in Singh’s year-old leadership as he faces criticism from party loyalists about his effectiveness and weak fundraising.
He has announced he will run for a seat in Parliament in Burnaby South, a riding held by New Democrat MP Kennedy Stewart who is campaigning to become Vancouver’s next mayor.
Several caucus members defended Singh on Wednesday when reporters questioned how well-known he was in the riding, and whether the party has fallen behind under his leadership.
Singh visited Victoria for the Pride Parade in early July and held up marchers behind him because so many people were mobbing him for selfies, Cowichan-Malahat-Langford MP Alistair MacGregor said.
“I know there’s this narrative being driven in the national media and by our political opponents … but what I see on the ground is very different from the stories that we read.”