Is Canada Ready for Jagmeet?

September 7, 2017

Update: Since we first live streamed the Jagmeet and Greet event in Brampton, Canada on Sept 6, the confrontation between Jagmeet Singh and a protester has been seen by over 50 million people across the world in 3 days. The protester has since been identified, and Jagmeet Singh has issued a statement. Details below.

Jagmeet Singh’s campaign event in Brampton was disrupted by a determined protester on Wednesday evening. Singh, a popular politician in Peel Region is running as a candidate in the federal NDP leadership race. The event was promoted as a “Jagmeet and Greet” and was held at the Professors Lake Community Centre. Brampton Focus live streamed the event.

Mr. Singh is headed into the first ballot of the NDP leadership race on September 18th claiming support from 47,000 of the 124,000 party members. He is widely accepted as the leading candidate for the first ballot. However, insiders are concerned about where support would shift if Singh doesn’t get majority support on the first ballot.

The event in Brampton on Wednesday night was the first public signal that not all Canadians are comfortable with Mr. Singh’s candidacy. Addressing the audience after the protester left, Mr. Singh said that “you know growing up as a brown-skinned, turban bearded man I faced things like this before. It’s not a problem. We can deal with it. There’s going to be other obstacles we’re gonna to face.”

Mr. Singh’s staff and volunteers at the event were clearly caught off guard at the disruption. The reaction online has been overwhelmingly supportive of how Mr. Singh personally handled the situation. After the disruption, Mr. Singh captured the attention of the attendees with compelling stories of his upbringing, and proudly pointed out his mother in the audience. At one point, Mr. Singh had the audience image it’s 2019, election season and the debate for the next Prime Minister of Canada is on TV, with Justin Trudeau on stage, Andrew Sheer, and a “bearded turbanned candidate named Jagmeet Singh”. “Imagine That.”

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