A provincial politician from Ontario running to be the next NDP leader says he has no plans to run for a federal seat until 2019.
Jagmeet Singh spoke to roughly two dozen people Monday night at the Lunenburg library.
Singh says should he win the leadership vote, he would travel across the country and speak with Canadians.
It would be similar to Jack Layton’s situation when he won the leadership in 2003.
“Jack Layton was a city councillor and when he won the leadership he was a city councillor and did not have a seat. There is a precedence for it.”
If Singh were to win the leadership vote, the NDP would not have their leader in the House of Commons for at least two years.
The party will choose Singh, Manitoba MP Niki Ashton, Quebec MP Guy Caron or Ontario MP Charlie Angus when voting begins September 18.
Singh spoke about a number issues including the universal child care benefit, refugees and immigration and the Liberal government’s plan to privatize all future infrastructure in the country.
Singh says it doesn’t make sense for the Trudeau government to move ahead with the $35-billion infrastructure bank.
It will seek public funding as leverage to attract billions more in private investment for major projects like roads, bridges and airports.
Singh says if infrastructure is privately owned, the goal is profit not accessibility, affordability or quality.
“And they’re selling this as if it’s a great thing. We’ve seen their members getting up in the house and are really proud of their work to do this infrastructure bank. You’re proud of the fact that you’re going to sell off our country?”
Singh says infrastructure like roads and bridges need to be publicly owned.
You can catch some of his discussion in the video below.
