Jagmeet Singh

Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal (born January 2, 1979), professionally known as Jagmeet Singh (dʒəɡˈmiːt_sɪŋ ), is a Canadian lawyer and politician serving as leader of the New Democratic Party since 2017 and as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Burnaby South since 2019. He was previously an Ontario New Democratic Party Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Bramalea—Gore—Malton in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2011 to 2017. Singh began his career as a criminal defence lawyer for different law firms. His political career began in 2011 where he contested the 2011 federal election in the federal riding of Bramalea—Gore—Malton which resulted in a narrow victory for Conservative opponent Bal Gosal; he became MPP in the overlapping provincial riding later that year. In 2015, he became deputy leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, serving under leader Andrea Horwath until 2017. Singh announced his candidacy for the New Democratic Party leadership following a leadership review that resulted in a leadership election to replace Tom Mulcair. Singh was elected leader on October 1, 2017, with a first round vote of 53.8% in a field of four. Upon his election, Singh became the first person of a visible minority group to lead a major Canadian federal political party on a permanent basis, and the second overall after the Bloc Québécois’s former interim leader Vivian Barbot. Singh is also the first turban-wearing Sikh to sit as a provincial legislator in Ontario. He has been widely recognized in Canadian media for his fashion and style sense. Ideologically, Singh identifies as both a progressive and a social democrat. He advocates raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, decriminalizing personal possession of all drugs, and supports eliminating several tax deductions available to the highest-income earners.