Singh coy about coalition conditions

NDP official says leader won’t negotiate in public about a minority result

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is staying coy about how exactly he would try to wield the power he might hold if Canadians elect a hung parliament Monday.

During his late campaign tour of Vancouver Island Friday, Singh dodged a direct answer when asked to clearly state whether he would try to topple a Conservative minority government shortly after the election, as the party’s leader, Andrew Scheer, has vowed to scrap the federal carbon price as his first act in power.

Singh also refused to clearly say whether he would make the cancellation of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion a condition for supporting a Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau.

“This is something that I’ve been really clear on. I am fully opposed to the Trans Mountain, I have been opposed to it, I will continue to be opposed to it,” Singh said.

“We’ve been fighting the pipeline before, we’re going to continue to fight it, we’re always going to fight it.”

An official with the party later told the Star that Singh doesn’t intend to negotiate in public about how he would try to influence a minority parliament.

Later Friday, Singh made a whistle stop to greet students at the University of Victoria and was set to attend an evening rally with John Horgan, the NDP premier of B.C.

With public polls consistently suggesting Canadians are set to elect a minority Parliament with relatively even numbers of Conservatives and Liberals, the NDP, Bloc Québécois and Greens could be in a position to hold the balance of power.

That has prompted Scheer to trumpet warnings of an NDPLiberal coalition he alleges would recklessly run deficits and hike taxes on all Canadians.

Singh has repeatedly said his party would do whatever it can to prevent Scheer from becoming prime minister.