Jagmeet Singh

Early life

Born in 1979 in Scarborough, Ontario, to immigrant parents from the Indian state of Punjab, Singh grew up in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and Windsor, Ontario. He attended high school at the Detroit Country Day School, in Beverly Hills, Michigan, graduating in 1997. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Western Ontario in 2001 and a Bachelor of Laws degree from York University's Osgoode Hall Law School in 2005. He was called to the Bar of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2006. He is fluent in English, French, and Punjabi. He worked as a criminal defense lawyer in the Greater Toronto Area before entering politics, first at the law firm Pinkofskys, then at his own practice, Singh Law, which he established with his brother Gurratan Singh.

During his time as a lawyer he offered free legal rights seminars across Ontario and provided pro bono legal counsel for people and community organizations in need. In a Toronto Star article published January 9, 2012, Singh stated that his background in criminal defence contributed to his decision to enter politics, particularly his work advocating for the protection of rights entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Federal politics

Singh provided pro bono consulting to an activist group that protested the visit to Canada of Kamal Nath, the Indian trade minister who had persecuted Sikhs and had allegedly led armed mobs during the 1984 Delhi pogrom. After failing to get their views heard, Singh was inspired to run for office by the activist group so their concerns could be better represented.

Singh began his political career with his decision to run for Member of Parliament in the 2011 federal election as the NDP candidate in the riding of Bramalea-Gore-Malton. During the election, Singh stopped using his surname, Dhaliwal (which is connected to caste), because he wanted to signal his rejection of the inequality inherent in the Sikh caste system. Instead, he chose to use Singh, which reflects the spiritual belief in an egalitarian society where all enjoy equitable access to rights and justice. He was defeated by Conservative candidate Bal Gosal by 539 votes.

Provincial politics

Singh ran in the 2011 Ontario provincial election as the NDP candidate in the overlapping provincial riding, and defeated Liberal Incumbent Kuldip Kular by 2,277 votes. Singh became the first Ontario NDP MPP to represent the Peel Region as well as the first turban-wearing MPP. In the 40th Parliament of Ontario, Singh was appointed as the NDP critic for the Attorney General of Ontario and for the Consumer Services. Singh also serves as his party's Deputy House Leader.

In March 2012, Singh introduced a private member's bill called "An Act to Amend the Insurance Act" to address high auto insurance rates. This bill would have removed the industry practice of basing insurance rates on geographic location. The bill failed to pass second reading.

In March 2013, Singh introduced a motion calling on the Liberal government to reduce auto insurance premiums by 15%. Singh's motion was accepted by the legislature, and the 15% reduction was to be included in the Liberal Government's 2013 Provincial budget.

In November 2014, Singh voted against the government's legislation entitled "Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Rates Act", after arguing there were major shortcomings in the legislation regarding the driver's right to sue auto insurance companies. Singh said, "removing more protections for people is not the right way to go, it's a significant loss of our rights, and this is not a good bill."

In November 2015, Singh introduced a private member's bill to the legislature regarding Tarion. Tarion was created by the provincial government in 1976 to be the regulator of the province's homebuilding industry. Singh's proposed legislation would give the Ontario Ombudsman the jurisdiction to investigate the practices of the corporation, as well as force Tarion to produce a detailed track record of their builds, and include all of their employees who make over $100,000 on the sunshine list. The proposed legislation would also subject Tarion bylaws to the approval of the provincial government.

In December 2013, legislation introduced by Singh to have the month of April recognized as Sikh Heritage Month in the province of Ontario was passed by the legislature.

Singh has called for greater police accountability and demanded the provincial government draft legislation to strengthen Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU). He criticized the Attorney General after the release of a report by the Ombudsman André Marin that found the province had undermined the SIU. Singh said, "The comprehensive failure of the ministry to address concerns about the SIU and give it a proper mandate is simply unacceptable, and I expect immediate action from the new Attorney General."

In October 2015, Singh introduced a motion calling on the government to instruct police services in Ontario to end arbitrary street checks, known as carding. On October 22, 2015, the legislature unanimously passed Singh's motion.

Singh was a critic of the province's handling of the Ornge Air Ambulance service and called for greater oversight of the agency. Ornge was the subject of an investigation that found the air ambulance service paid a $1.4 million salary to its president while failing to provide timely emergency services. Singh said, "No more flying blind at Ornge. The people of Ontario have been paying the bills at Ornge with scarce health dollars. They deserve the facts about what's happened. A key first step is making executive contracts immediately available to the public."

In May 2012, Singh introduced a private member's bill called "An Act to amend the Consumer Protection Act, 2002" to address high fees on overseas money transfers. The bill died on the order paper when the legislature was prorogued in September 2012.

Singh introduced a private members bill to allow turban wearing Sikhs to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. After the motion was denied, Singh released statement declaring "While the Wynne Liberals are happy to pay lip service to civil rights, when the rubber meets the road, this so-called activist premier is quick to deny the Sikh community rights recognized elsewhere".

In December 2016, Singh spoke out against the motion introduced by PC MPP Gila Martow, which called for the legislature to denounce the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

In June 2015, Singh was chastised by Ontario's integrity commissioner for the improper use of legislative resources meant for his constituency office for partisan purposes. The integrity commissioner's report found that in March 2015, Singh had improperly allowed his constituency office in Brampton to organize bus trips to take supporters to a partisan federal NDP rally in Toronto and that Singh's inclusion of a donation link on his constituency website contravened parliamentary convention. Because Singh did not intentionally break the ethics policy and had proactively acted to fix the breaches when alerted, he was not fined or otherwise punished, and the integrity commissioner only recommended that Singh's staff undergo additional training.

Provincial politics outside Ontario

During the Alberta general election in May 2015, Singh campaigned for the Alberta New Democratic Party, reaching out to South Asian voters on behalf of Irfan Sabir, who was running in Calgary-McCall. Sabir was later elected, and was appointed to Premier Rachel Notley's cabinet as Minister of Social Services. Singh also campaigned for the BC NDP and Nova Scotia NDP in those provinces' 2017 elections.

Singh endorsed and campaigned for Wab Kinew in the Manitoba NDP's 2017 leadership race.

Federal leadership

After Tom Mulcair lost a leadership review vote at the 2016 federal NDP convention, Singh was considered as potential leadership candidate, winning the support of 11% of NDP members in a Mainstreet Research poll conducted in April 2016, and was statistically tied for second place. Singh was considered a leading candidate to replace Horwath as NDP leader if she lost the 42nd Ontario general election. He announced his intention of running to be the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada at a campaign launch on May 15, 2017 in Brampton.

In August, Singh created controversy when he claimed that his candidacy had led to 47,000 sign-ups for the party. Several rival campaigns, most notably Charlie Angus', accused Singh of inflating party membership sign ups. A poll by Mainstreet Research was released in September, showing Singh overtaking Charlie Angus to lead the race for NDP leadership for the first time with 27.3% of the vote. Several days before the leadership vote, a video of Singh confronting a heckler went viral leading to Singh getting praise for his handling of the situation.

Singh received the most endorsements (30) out of any other candidate in the race.

Political views

Singh has branded himself a progressive and a social democrat.

Economy

Singh supports a progressive tax system and supports eliminating several tax deductions available to the highest-income earners and redirect the money to low-income seniors, workers and disabled Canadians. Singh's tax agenda during the 2017 New Democratic Party leadership election included creating new tax brackets for the highest-income earners and raising corporate tax.

Singh supports raising minimum wage to $15 a hour.

LGBT rights

Singh supports LGBT rights. Singh believes in training the RCMP in "LGBTQI2S+ competency training" to ensure interactions with law enforcement are not stigmatizing or traumatizing. Singh also supports bringing a form of affirmitive action for hiring of LGBT people and supports a Canadian version of the Bathroom bill. In terms of gender identity, Singh believes that gender is assigned at birth and supports self-declaration of gender on federal ID.

Singh advocates for Health Canada conducting research on the health care needs and experiences of LGBT patients and advocates for policy changes allowing people to medically self-declare their gender. Singh also supports immediately repealing the ban on blood, tissue and organ donation by men who have sex with men and trans women who have sex with men.

Ecology

Singh wants to reduce the carbon emissions levels of Canada to 30% by 2025. This will be done by assisting provinces with the 2030 "coal phaseout", implementing a zero emissions vehicle agenda, "greening" the tax system by adding subsidies to companies supporting ecology and building renewable energy supergrid. Singh also supports creating more accountability around climate change by creating an independent officer of parliament mandated to report on interim progress on emission reductions (Climate Change Action Officer or CCAO), tasking the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD) to the Auditor General with gathering data from each province and territory and appointing an advisory group composed of regional and topic-specific experts who will support the CCAO in interpreting data presented by the CESD and assessing implications for climate, energy, and economic policies and regulations.

Drug Policy

Singh supports decriminalizing personal possession of drugs, and treating it as a medical issue rather than a criminal issue.

Personal life

Singh practises Brazilian jiu-jitsu, having competed in mixed martial arts in the U.S. and Canada.

Singh has been recognized for his fashion and style sense in Canadian magazines and publications. Singh was named by Toronto Life magazine as one of the five youngest rising stars, featured in the top 10 best dressed of 2013 and most recently one of the 10 style icons featured in the 50th anniversary of Yorkdale Mall. Toronto Life also recognized Singh as one of the top 25 most stylish personalities in Toronto in 2013.

In February 2017, GQ called Singh an "incredibly well-dressed rising star in Canadian politics.

In January 2012, the Toronto Star named Singh one of Toronto's top 12 personalities to watch in 2012, calling Singh a trailblazer in Ontario politics. Singh was recognized by the World Sikh Organization of Canada in their 2012 list of honorees for being the first turbaned Sikh MPP in Ontario.