Jagmeet Singh elected MP for Burnaby-South

BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – The leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh, has been elected Member of Parliament in the Burnaby-South byelection.

There were three federal byelections being held Feb. 25, but all eyes were on this B.C. riding, as the vote was high stakes for Singh.

With more than half the polls reporting results in Burnaby South, Singh had just over 38 per cent of the vote, comfortably ahead of Liberal Richard T. Lee’s 26 per cent and Conservative Jay Shin’s 22 per cent.

Live results are available here.

He ran on a promise to ease housing and affordability issues.

He was considered a parachute candidate, and if he hadn’t won, the NDP would likely have been on the search for a new leader. Singh has been leading the federal NDP since October 2017, but without a seat in the house.

The win gives him the much-needed seat in the House of Commons and heightened visibility in the run-up to the national vote in October.

The former Ontario provincial politician has faced criticism about his seeming unfamiliarity with federal issues and his handling of internal caucus matters — particularly his decision to kick Saskatchewan MP Erin Weir out of caucus for alleged misconduct, which has infuriated many NDP stalwarts in the province seen as the cradle of the party.

Under his leadership, the NDP has plunged to its lowest standings in public opinion polls since 2000, when it won just 13 seats. The party is mired in debt and its fundraising is sluggish. At least 11 of the 44 MPs who won seats for the party in 2015 have announced they won’t seek re-election this fall.

Liberal candidate and former MLA Richard Lee was a latecomer to the race. Lee was brought in after Karen Wang was forced to resign following an attempt to rally Chinese voters to her cause while highlighting Singh’s race.

The SNC-Lavalin affair may have had an impact on the results. In Burnaby, there is a lot of sympathy for former justice minister Jody Wilson Raybould, which may have hurt the Liberals.

The Conservatives had lawyer and political newcomer Jay Shin. Laura-Lynn Thompson ran for the People’s Party of Canada, while Terry Grimwood and Valentine Wu ran as independents.

The riding was vacated by former MP and now-Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart.

-With files from Estefania Duran, Denise Wong and the Canadian Press

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