Jagmeet Singh: First-past-the-post enables ‘fringe’ candidates like Doug Ford
SURREY, B.C. — Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh took aim at conservative politicians Wednesday while lambasting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for abandoning a campaign promise to bring in electoral reform.
Singh told his caucus during a retreat in Surrey, B.C., that Trudeau’s explanation for disavowing the promise was that he was worried a new electoral system might facilitate the rise of far-right, fringe parties.
“First-past-the-post didn’t stop Doug Ford from coming into power in Ontario,” Singh said, to laughs and applause from NDP members of Parliament.
“It didn’t stop him from using the notwithstanding clause to continue a petty vendetta against the City of Toronto, to abrogate our charter rights to continue this vendetta.”