Canada’s NDP leader Jagmeet Singh faces political setback

TORONTO: Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh faced a political setback on Thursday night as his younger brother was defeated in Ontario’s provincial elections from a seat in the family’s political base of Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area.

The elder brother had been present at the launch of the re-election campaign of Gurratan Singh on April 23 for the riding of Brampton East and figured in promotional videos on election day. Gurratan Singh, who was elected from the riding (as constituencies are called in Canada) in 2018, making his debut in the provincial parliament, was defeated by another Indo-Canadian candidate, Hardeep Grewal of the ruling Progressive Conservatives. The contest was not close, as Grewal garnered approximately 43% of the vote against 31% for Gurratan Singh.

Jagmeet Singh made his entry into Canadian politics in the Ontario legislature when he won the Bramalea-Gore-Malton riding in 2011 for the provincial NDP. He continued to hold that seat till 2017, when he resigned after being elected leader of the NDP.

The riding was reconfigured into what became Brampton East for the 2018 elections and again proved a bastion for the family as it was captured by Gurratan Singh. However, the tide turned on Thursday night in a personal and political reverse for Jagmeet Singh.

Another prominent loser was Liberal Party candidate Harinder Malhi. A minister in the outgoing government in 2018, she had moved a private members motion in the legislature in 2017, terming the 1984 anti-Sikh violence in India as “genocide”, an event that severely strained ties between India and Canada. Malhi’s elevation as the first Minister of Sikh heritage in the province came in 2018 but her tenure was remain short-lived. This time, Graham McGregor of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC) bested her with 45% of the vote against 28%.

The PC formed the government again in Canada’s most populous province, with a better performance than that in 2018. Lead by Premier Doug Ford, it was on course to net 83 seats, an improvement of seven over 2018, when his party ousted the Liberals who had been in power for 15 years.