Singh says New Democrats won’t be ‘sidelined or shut down’ in final days of the campaign

EDMONTON — As polls show the NDP are in a fight to hold on to official party status in the final few days of this race, leader Jagmeet Singh is telling supporters that the election “isn’t just about stopping something bad, it’s about fighting for something better.”

And it’s a fight, he said Wednesday, he’s not ready to tap out of.

“I don’t hear any bell. You guys hear a bell?” Singh said after repeated questions about whether his resignation as party leader is on the horizon. “This round is not over. This fight’s not over. We’re here fighting. This election is not over.”

Rallying supporters last night in Edmonton alongside former Alberta premier Rachel Notley, Singh rolled out yet another new message, making his case for Canadians to vote NDP on Monday, after a campaign largely focused on the threat of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“If we’re told the only way to stop Trump’s influence is to give up what we believe in, then what are we defending?” Singh said.

Campaign sources tell CTV News to expect Singh to keep making this case to progressives as the election enters its last leg.

Shouldn’t ‘give this one’ to Carney: Singh

In last night’s speech, Singh made the assertion that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is “not going to win this election,” as Canadians “don’t want Trump-style politics here.” He added, though, that “if the Liberals win, just because they’re less bad, nothing gets better.”

“Everyday people have been told to wait, to sacrifice, to settle for less, because the rich and well connected will use every crisis, every threat, every moment of fear, to tighten their grip. To tell you your vote doesn’t count, you can’t make a difference, that you should just step aside and give this one to Mark Carney,” Singh said.

Singh told the crowd of what the party estimated was a few hundred people not to believe that what they value can wait, as “they’ve never been more fragile.”

“Every movement for justice gets told the same thing: ‘sit down, be quiet, wait your turn.’ That’s what’s happening now. And if we give Mark Carney unchecked power, we won’t be able to stop him,” Singh said.

“We’ve heard it all before, and we refuse to be silenced, sidelined, or shut down.”

The push to hold ground

The NDP leader said that New Democrats across Canada are giving it their all in the final days of this short but intense race, “not because the odds are easy, because we believe in something better, and we know it’s worth fighting for.”

Those odds, according to polling aggregator 338 Canada – which Singh’s team has repeatedly cast doubt on – show the New Democrats winning between one and 16 seats on April 28.

They entered this race with 24 and need 12 to maintain official party status.

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This is Singh’s third federal election at the helm of the party and last night on CTV’s Power Play with Vassy Kapelos, his predecessor Tom Mulcair said if the party loses its official leverage in Parliament, it should be Singh’s last.

“I think that the party is going to go through a real difficult time if the result is the one that’s being predicted,” Mulcair said.

But still hoping for pick-ups, today Singh is campaigned in Edmonton Centre, which the New Democrats are hoping to win with candidate Trisha Estabrooks, who has been knocking on doors in what is a Liberal-held riding, for more than a year.

Also there were NDP incumbents Heather McPherson and Blake Desjarlais.

‘Fearful… but want to vote for their values’

Desjarlais, speaking to reporters after Singh’s announcement, said he’s seeing record volunteer turnout, and while he’s aware of what the polls are saying he’s not worried about losing his seat.

“The polls, they always say things. They said things to me many, many times… They told me, ‘Blake, you’re going to be defeated. You’re going to be wiped out. Why are you doing this?’ That was the question I had all of 2021,” he said. “This election is different.”

“A lot of people, yeah, they’re fearful, but they want to vote for their values too,” he said, echoing what young voters CTV News spoke with at last night’s campaign event said.

They spoke about feeling energized to go vote, but also scared about the outcome. One said that fear comes from the hope she has and being afraid it won’t pan out. Another said she’s concerned that Canadians are voting out of fear over the Trump threat.

In an effort to encourage supporters who may be feeling this way, one of the last things Singh said before he got off stage Tuesday night was: “New Democrats show up when we’re counted out. We fight when we’re told to fall in line, we don’t step aside, we push forward, we don’t flinch.”