Jagmeet Singh Officially Sworn In as MP in Ottawa

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Published March 17, 2019 at 10:05 pm

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It’s been a tough slog for Jagmeet Singh since he became leader of the federal NDP party, but Singh has finally been sworn in as a Member of Parliament after winning a crucial by-election in Burnaby South last month.

Today (March 17), Singh announced that he was officially sworn as MP. Now, the NDP leader–who has been lagging significantly in the polls and who has generated lacklustre fundraising support for his party–finally has a seat in Ottawa.

Up until the by-election, political experts speculated that a loss could prompt the NDP to turf Singh and hold an eleventh hour leadership convention just eight months shy of the general election.

Fortunately for Singh, his by-election victory (which was expected), was decisive. He won the seat with 38.8 per cent of the vote, beating out Liberal candidate Richard T. Lee and Conservative candidate Jay Shin.

Now, Singh can finally make his voice heard from the House of Commons.

“Sworn in & officially in this. Now we double down on fighting for the help that Canadians need – from ensuring everyone has a place to call home to making sure healthcare covers us the way it should – I’m determined & ready to make life easier for people. Let’s get it. #cdnpoli,” Singh wrote on Twitter.

While it remains to be seen how Singh will perform now that he has a seat in Ottawa, it’s clear that he and his party have an uphill battle of ahead of them if they want capture votes from the now embattled Liberal party.

Since Singh was chosen as the leader in 2017, he’s had significant conflicts with members of his own caucus. Multiple NDP MPs have also announced that they do not plan to run for re-election in the fall.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens going forward.

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