NDP: Singh in Horwath’s corner for election

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath can count on some major campaign help from her party’s brightest star.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will do all he can to ensure Horwath replaces Liberal Kathleen Wynne as Ontario premier after the June 7 election.

“I’ve committed to supporting the provincial party. I have a personal reason: these are my colleagues, my friends. I also have a vested interest in the benefit of the province and of the country,” Singh said Monday at Queen’s Park where he bade farewell to his former NDP caucus colleagues.

“It’s absolutely clear that the province will be better off with Andrea Horwath as premier and the country will be better off with the New Democratic values of putting people first, of standing up for issues that matter to the lives of people,” he said.

Singh, who resigned as Bramalea-Gore-Malton MPP on Friday, three weeks after winning the federal NDP leadership, said it’s “very special” to be at Queen’s Park.

Horwath expressed delight that Singh will help her party next spring.

“Although he won’t be on the ballot for us, he certainly will be very, very active and prominent in our campaign,” she said. “Yes, we’ve lost our deputy leader and our MPP from Bramalea-Gore-Malton, but we’ve gained an amazing national NDP leader, who has brought a great amount of excitement.”

Singh added that he has not yet decided where he will run for a seat in the Commons; he has ties to Brampton, Toronto, Windsor and St. John’s.

“I’ve grown up across Canada. We’ll have to see where it makes the most sense.”