NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh projected to win Burnaby South byelection

BURNABY, B.C.— New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh was off to a fast lead in a bitter byelection race in Burnaby South just months before a federal election. If he wins, he will have made history as the first person of colour to lead a federal party in the House of Commons.

Singh had earned 38.5 per cent of the vote from 85 of 196 polls reporting at press time.

Political scientists say Burnaby South’s unusually divisive byelection has been a test of Singh’s hold on his party, which has campaigned on bread-and-butter issues like housing and health after electing him leader in 2017.

Singh is up against strong Liberal and Conservative campaigns from Richard Lee and Jay Shin, respectively. However, an upstart federal populist party was testing its appeal at the ballot box for the first time.

Experts said that even a tenth of Burnaby South’s electorate casting a ballot for People’s Party of Canada candidate Laura-Lynn Thompson would signal an appetite for far-right policies against carbon taxation and at least some forms of immigration. Such arguments have found support even among Burnaby’s sizable minority populations.

So far, the Liberal’s Lee has earned 26.2 per cent of votes and Thompson earned 11.1 per cent.

The suburban community where the conflict played out is diverse and historically working class, with a median income 18 per cent below the national average. It has a higher proportion of visible minorities than neighbouring Vancouver or Surrey — even higher than Toronto.

The federal riding was previously an NDP stronghold. However, in the last 2015 election, former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart squeaked by with a surplus of roughly 600 votes over the Liberals, while the Conservative candidate was a close third. Stewart vacated the seat to become the current mayor of Vancouver.