Who is Jagmeet Singh?

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opment. As the target of racist attacks, he must be rated him for being a Muslim. Singh simply repeated the words, “We love you. We support you.” Racism and incipient fascism must be countered by stressing the need for working-class unity against the system that breeds racism, and by initiating mass actions to crush work. His election represents a doubling down on the shift to the centre, to glamour politics, to trying to beat the Liberals at their game. All this occurs at a time ponent and Quebec MP Guy Caron to be NDP House Leader until the 2019 election. Charlie Angus, who sition on pipelines and energy projects,” is left out in the cold. Does this mean Singh will oppose pipelines, Ashton MP, squandered the opportunity to present a bold socialist policy platform, to integrate grassroots pressure from below to move him in that direction. socialist activists into her campaign, and to turn it into Recall that Singh initially opposed LGBTQI-positive a vehicle for mass action against capitalist austerity, sex education in Brampton schools. As Deputy Leader environmental plunder and war. She steered away of the Ontario NDP he fully backed Leader Andrea The 38-year-old turbaned Sikh lawyer from Bramp­ ton is the first person of colour to head a major Ca­ nadian political party—in itself a significant devel­ defended, although not in the way he did when con­ fronted by a racist woman in Peel who absurdly be­ the racists.

Singh handily defeated his opponents for the NDP leadership by skillfully recruiting from his social net­ when the right wing, including the Liberal govern­ ment, are moving ever more stridently against demo­ cratic rights, to shore up and extend the grip of impe­ rialism on the world, to put profit before the environ­ ment.

Sadly, the most left-wing candidate for leader, Niki ILD Coordinator PepsiCo Argentina—PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest producers of snack food, including Lays potato chips as well as the iconic drink, has faced fierce opposition from the 691 workers it has tried to lay off at its north Buenos Ai­ res facility. Arriving to work in June, the workers were met with a locked gate and a notice that read that the plant was being closed.

The workers responded on 20 June with a plant occupation. Led by the fac­ tory stewards’ committee, shop-floor reps elected directly by the workers be­ gan to popularize their struggle across the country and internationally.

On July 27, the day after the workers were violently evicted from the plant by police, the Argentina labour tribunal ruled that the layoffs were illegal, and that PepsiCo Argentina had to immedi­ ately reopen the plant as there was no economic reason for its closure. Pep­ siCo has refused to abide by the court ruling, and the workers continue their from the path of Jeremy Corbyn.

in the federal Parliament, appointed leadership op­ has what the Toronto Star calls “the most nuanced po­ and fight for public ownership and a rapid Green en­ ergy transition away from carbon dependency? Jagmeet Singh, an Ontario MPP who lacks a seat economy.

Given his overall record, it would take enormous Horwath’s failed 2014 Ontario election campaign op­ Singh did nothing to advocate public auto insurance, a longstanding ONDP policy championed by beloved, deceased MPPs Mel Swart and Peter Kormos.

During the 2017 federal leadership race Singh stunned members when he came out against univer­ sality in seniors’ benefits. He infamously toured Israel hosted by Zionist organizations, and he was backed by the openly pro-imperialist NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Helene Laverdiere. Singh initially favoured the Energy East pipeline, then backed down under pres­ sure from Niki Ashton and others. On post-secondary school fees and student debt he has been vague.

On the positive side, Singh wants to de-criminalize all drugs and invest in the treatment of substance abuse as a health issue. At the same time, he never uses the word “socialist” to describe himself; he pro­ That means party and labour leftists should press Singh sharply on pharma-care, dental care, free postenergy, banking, telecommunications and transporta­ be done by advancing socialist policies and demand­ ing that Singh lead the fight for a Workers’ Agenda. n