NDP leader Singh’s new chief of staff brings brains, sober second thought
OTTAWA — Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh remembers being deeply impressed the first time he got to know Willy Blomme, the woman who would later become his new chief of staff. He also remembers thinking something else: the feeling wasn’t mutual.
“She wasn’t won over right away,” Singh said of the 2015 encounter, which happened in Toronto at a tribute to former leader Jack Layton. “I was won over by her right away, but she wasn’t necessarily won over by me.”
Blomme recalls the encounter a little differently.
“I was really struck at that point by how he connects with people,” she said, describing how he asked questions, pressed her for information and showed a genuine interest in her perspective. “Listening was really the primary thing he was doing.”