OTTAWA – Rising star Sikh-Canadian NDP leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh is battling racists and racism in Canada’s political system to win the NDP leadership, something truly historic if he succeeds. Singh received some good news last week with an endorsement from Veteran party MP and former federal NDP leadership candidate Nathan Cullen, who endorsed Singh in the current race to pick a replacement for Thomas Mulcair.
Cullen, who represents Skeena-Bulkley Valley in northern B.C., and Ontario MPP Singh made the announcement during a Wednesday morning news conference in Ottawa, reported CBC News.
Cullen, who finished third in the 2012 race won by Mulcair, said Singh has a broad appeal and strong social democratic values, while adding it was a tough decision with three other strong candidates in contention.
“[He has an] ability to connect with people [and] ability to hold policies he believes in and manifest those policies as opposed to just saying something to get elected.”
Singh said he has been watching Cullen’s career and work with “incredible admiration,” and it’s an honour to have his support.
Singh and Cullen said they did not talk about Cullen getting a position in the party or certain policies promoted because of his endorsement.
As for comments from Mulcair, that it would be “a heck of a lot better” to have the next leader hold a seat in the House of Commons, Cullen said the party didn’t get out of the Ottawa bubble enough last election.
Singh has said he’s not concerned about not having a seat on Parliament Hill and that he can use the time to meet Canadians and rebuild the party’s support.
Singh, Ontario MP Charlie Angus, Manitoba MP Niki Ashton and Quebec MP Guy Caron are the remaining candidates.
Singh has also been endorsed by former leadership candidate Peter Julian, who dropped out of the race this summer.
A new leader could be chosen as early as Oct. 1, after the first round of voting.
If nobody gets enough votes in the first round, there will be one or two more rounds of voting.
The latest a new leader can be named is Oct. 15.
