Jagmeet Singh says he's "absolutely" the right person to lead the New Democrats into the next election despite the party's drop in the polls.
A recent Leger poll puts the NDP at just 14 per cent support — and suggests that support would drop to 12 per cent with Mark Carney as Liberal leader.
At a health care conference in Ottawa on Monday, Singh was asked if he's still the right leader for the party.
“So if you want to defend health care, I'm your guy. I'm the only one that's committed to defending health care, fighting back against privatization, not letting people profit off the pain of Canadians,” he said.
Singh said both the Liberals and Conservatives are proposing cuts to federal spending and he suggested that could include health and dental care programs.
Pharmacare and the national dental-care program were key parts of the supply-and-confidence deal that saw the NDP keep the minority Liberals in power for more than two years.
Singh took aim at the Liberals and leadership candidate Mark Carney, who is widely seen as the front-runner in the race.
“Mark Carney’s proposing to cut health care, cut the operating budget for our country, which literally means cutting services, which will make it harder for people to get health care,” he said.
Carney has said that if he becomes prime minister, he'll split the federal budget into two streams — capital and operational spending — and balance the operating side while running small capital deficits.
Carney has said he would continue the public dental care program but has not stated a position on the pharmacare program.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said that he will fix the budget and target “wasted money.”
He also has said that he would scrap pharmacare and has not committed to funding the dental-care program.
Singh said U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated threats to make Canada the 51st state also pose a risk to our country's universal health care system.
“The number one cause of bankruptcy in America is because of health care costs," he said. "To have an American style health care system you want that's private, you spend money out of pocket.”
As of Feb. 14, the NDP has nominated 140 candidates in 343 ridings for the upcoming federal election, which could begin as early as mid-March.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2025
Comments
Well, at least he's starting to learn how to reply to a question when you're in politics--note that he didn't actually answer the question he was asked. Asked if he was the right leader for the NDP (which, sorry to say, he isn't), he answered with a reason why the NDP is the right party for Canada (which was fairly sound as an answer to that question he wasn't asked). That is definitely how it's done. Go around answering gotcha questions all the time and you'll never get anywhere.
But the fact is that while I like Jagmeet Singh as a person, and I would welcome him in the cabinet of an NDP government, he doesn't have what it takes to be the effective front man for a party which is always going to be under attack from, or ignored by, the media unless it abandons its basic political beliefs. He lacks impact and warrior instincts, and he often seems to move in the wrong direction under pressure. He doesn't have a gift for pushing policies that can change the conversation; it's all nice but fairly bland and mild NDP fare. He's not a terrible leader, he successfully pushed for some good policies during Trudeau's minority government, like dental and pharmacare even if the Liberals managed to minimize their coverage, and the size of the Covid interventions like the CERB, which the Liberals were going to make much smaller. So our coming out of the pandemic without a huge recession is down to the NDP, including Singh's leadership. But to lead the NDP to anywhere much, you can't just be a decent leader, you have to be three times as good as the others.
I often wish he had not managed to win the NDP race that put him in as leader, but Charlie Angus (who I voted for in that contest) had won instead. I wonder how that would have worked out. I also wish Jack Layton hadn't gotten cancer; he might have put the NDP into government.
There are definitely some strong, smart, tough men and women in NDP politics who could be more effective leaders. I guess we'll have to wait for an NDP wipeout in the upcoming election for a leadership convention to put one of them in.