Internationally renowned poet Rupi Kaur and Jagmeet Singh held a love-in of sorts Saturday as each heaped praise on the other before a crowd in the NDP leader’s riding in Burnaby, B.C.
Kaur, who has topped the New York Times bestseller list with her two collections of poetry, asked Singh questions on topics from racial differences to affordability among youth, the environment and gun violence as the two sat on a riser in a hotel ballroom.
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Kaur, 26, said she met Singh as a 16-year-old in Brampton, Ont., when she hung around with a group of university students who worked to raise awareness about social-justice issues and put on open-mic performances that changed her life.
She said she had been volunteering with the group but nearly quit out of shyness. Then Singh happened to show up one day and encouraged her to keep going.
Kaur said she is sad to see discrimination against people in Quebec for wearing “reflections of their faith,” including a Sikh teacher named Amrit Kaur, who wears a turban. She moved to British Columbia because a new provincial law said she couldn’t wear her turban in the classroom.
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“People are being discriminated against because of who they and now we’ve got a government saying not just it’s OK but it’s a law to discriminate against someone because of who they are,” Singh said.
“I’ve been going right to Quebec, into the heart of Quebec and telling them, ‘I think this is wrong. I think it hurts people.’ I want to win over the hearts and minds of people, I want to win over people and I’m hoping that me running to become prime minister of this country, in Quebec, I send a message that we can come together and do so many beautiful things if we work together.”
Singh has said in Quebec that although he opposes the law, known as Bill 21, he wouldn’t intervene against it as prime minister.
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“I think we have to spread the idea that our differences do bring us together and our differences do help us belong and they don’t separate us,” Kaur said to applause from the crowd.
Singh said Kaur’s performances have moved him emotionally more than anyone else’s and he’s grateful that she helped him with his memoir, released earlier this year.
Kaur endorsed Singh’s bid for the prime minister’s job, saying she knew a decade ago he’d make a big difference.
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Singh told the mostly young crowd that youth are feeling hopeless because they’re being left behind economically and he would address that by eliminating student-loan debt and replacing loans with grants.
As for gun violence, he said municipalities should have the right to ban handguns and he would ensure that could happen through legislation.
“The root cause of violence, from all the experts, it’s about social exclusion when you feel like you don’t belong, when you’re hopeless, when there’s no opportunities, when you feel a lot of despair. That’s when the roots of violence take hold.”
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Some polls have shown the New Democrats barely ahead of the Green party in third place this election campaign.
“For me, the contrast is really clear,” Singh said in Burnaby, dismissing the Green party’s standing.
Earlier Saturday, Singh proposed a $30-million increase in federal funding for BC Ferries. That would roughly double the federal government’s annual contribution to the ferry system.
Aboard a ferry from Victoria, Singh said the investment would help make fares cheaper for families who rely on the service.
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Asked if he was proposing funding boosts for other ferry systems in Canada, Singh said he would make various transit announcements later in the campaign.
He was spending a fifth straight day in British Columbia, where he is also running for re-election in his own riding of Burnaby South.
Singh has also spent a lot of time so far campaigning in Ontario, where he used to serve in the legislature as deputy leader of the provincial NDP.
He said he is familiar with and cares deeply about the challenges faced by people in the two provinces.
Singh has yet to campaign in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador or Prince Edward Island — but he said he’d do his best to visit every province before election day.
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