BURNABY MUSIC TO SINGH’S EARS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, with his wife, Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu, announced on Wednesday that he will be running in the byelection in Burnaby South, while also committing to a move to B.C. from his home in Ontario if he wins.
The federal NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, will run in a byelection in Burnaby South, committing himself to a B.C. community that is 3,300 kilometres from his home in Ontario.
Singh said Wednesday that he would move to Burnaby if he wins and would run in Burnaby South in the 2019 general election as well.
“I am committed to Burnaby South. I am all in in Burnaby. My wife and I talked about it — and we are going to run here,” he said.
Asked directly if he would move to Burnaby if he won a seat, Singh said “absolutely.”
They were bold words from Singh, who lives in the Toronto area, and who is still trying to find his footing on the national stage after a surprise win in the NDP leadership race in October last year.
Singh argued that some of Burnaby’s issues — housing affordability, health care and the controversial $9.3-billion Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion — were also national issues.
Said Singh: “We are going to talk about the issues that matter to people. And we are going use that platform I have as a leader to talk about housing, to talk about pharmacare, to talk about health care … (and) that we don’t need to be investing billions of dollars in a 65-year-old leaky pipeline. We need to be investing in cleanenergy jobs today and tomorrow.”
Singh made his pitch in the sweltering heat, amplified by the asphalt at an outdoor movie studio where about 150 supporters came to hear him speak. Singh said he was seeking a seat through a bye- lection because he wanted to hold Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to account for a lack of action on issues such as housing and health care.
On health care, he accused the Liberals of cutting spending by $36 billion over the next 10 years.
The Liberals are not cutting spending, however, but increasing it more slowly. Under a program implemented by the former Conservative government — and kept by the Liberals — transfer increases to provinces will be tied to the growth in the economy.
David Moscrop, a Simon Fraser University political scientist, said Singh is running in Burnaby South simply because it is an open riding he believes he can win — and a pathway to get into Parliament where he hopes to raise his profile and prove himself.
So far, Singh’s performance has been “underwhelming,” said Moscrop, a post-doctoral fellow in the scholarly communications lab at SFU.
Moscrop noted that other national leaders — including former prime minsters Brian Mulroney and Jean Chretien — ran in ridings other than where they live, although Singh is going much farther afield in search of a seat.
“I think, if anything, this is to change the channel, get into the House of Commons and prove himself as a parliamentarian, to put himself on the map because I am not convinced anyone is paying any attention to him now,” said Moscrop. “There is probably some element of shoring up caucus support as well.”
The Burnaby South riding is considered a safe NDP seat, although there is always some risk, particularly since the Liberals have said they will contest the seat, Moscrop said.
The riding was won by only about 600 votes by NDP MP Kennedy Stewart in 2015 over his Liberal rival. It is vacant because Stewart stepped down to run for mayor of Vancouver. No date has been set for the byelection.
In a statement, the federal Liberals said the party looked forward to a campaign against Singh.