The Independent September 30 2017 The Independent September 30 2017

The press fights back
from the storm
St Maarten daily paper hits the streets
See Page 6
Vol. 5. Issue 13 September 30 2017
Independent
the
Singh is first
person of colour to
lead major political
party in Canada
Jagmeet Singh has been elected the new leader of
Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP), a result the leftist
party hopes will reinvigorate its support after a disappointing
showing in the last federal election.
Singh was elected with 53.6 percent of the vote, the NDP
announced on Sunday afternoon.
"I don't have the words to capture this journey and how
this feels right now," Singh, surrounded by his family and
campaign team, told a crowd of NDP members in downtown
Toronto.
"It's an incredibly profound honour. Thank you," Singh
said.
A total of 65,782 votes were cast in the leadership contest,
as NDP members filed ranked ballots between September 18
and early afternoon on Sunday.
Singh, who is Sikh and wears a turban, beat three other
NDP leadership hopefuls to become the first person of colour
to lead a federal political party in Canadian history.
The second-place finisher, Ontario MP Charlie Angus,
garnered 19.3 percent of the vote.
"We are the party that is building a better Canada," Singh
said on Sunday.
"And it is in us that you can see the future of our country
[and] how great our country will be with a New Democratic
government."
Before jumping into the leadership race last May, Singh
was a member of the Ontario provincial legislature, repre-
senting a riding in Brampton, a large suburb just outside of
Toronto.
He will lead the NDP from outside the House of Com-
mons until he can run for election at the federal level.
A lawyer by profession, Singh ran for the party's top spot
under the slogan: "With Love and Courage".
He has vowed to raise taxes for Canadians with the high-
est incomes, decriminalise drug use, raise the minimum wage
to 15 Canadian dollars ($12) an hour and remove children
from Canada's "no-fly list".
He also opposes the expansion of major Canadian oil
pipelines, a point of contention for Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau's current government.
Singh garnered international attention after his measured
response to a woman shouting racist comments during a cam-
paign event in Brampton last month went viral.
"It's important that we stand united against all forms of
hate," Singh said after the incident.
NDP supporters hope Singh's victory will bolster the party
after it finished a disappointing third in the 2015 federal elec-
tions behind Trudeau's Liberals and the Conservative Party.
That result eventually forced then-NDP leader Thomas
Mulcair to step down.
The loss came after the NDP unexpectedly surged to vic-
tory in ridings across the French-speaking province of Que-
bec in what was dubbed an Orange Wave in the 2011
elections.
Singh's ability to lead the NDP to a strong showing in
Quebec, which the party needs in order to have a shot at win-
ning federal elections, has been called into question. Critics
say Singh cannot win in a province where the issue of reli-
gious head coverings has been contentiously debated for
years.
The Diaspora’s Multicultural Voice