Singh goes after Kenney's health-care record at Alberta campaign stop

Fakiha Baig
The Canadian Press Staff
Published Thursday, August 19, 2021 

Aug. 19: Singh vows increased health care funding

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh chats with health care workers in Edmonton, on Thursday, August 19, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

EDMONTON -- NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh campaigned in Alberta on Thursday, with double-barrelled attacks on Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Premier Jason Kenney.

Singh stood near the East Edmonton Health Centre to speak about health care while trying to capitalize on Premier Jason Kenney's declining popularity amid the pandemic.

The 42-year-old NDP leader also addressed the multiple violent attacks against Black Muslim women in the province all while attempting to paint Kenney and Trudeau with the same brush.





"We're seeing cut after cut that is driving health care workers out of the province," Singh told reporters as cars honked at him while he stood next to a busy Edmonton road.

"These cuts at the provincial level are only made worse because for years and years federal governments have been cutting health care as well. The Conservatives cut health care, and then Trudeau kept in those same cuts."

Throughout the pandemic, Kenney has been grappling with a public outcry over temporary bed closures and reports of dozens of nurses and doctors leaving the province due to wage cuts and other rollbacks.

Singh said unlike his counterparts, he wants to actively work with any province or territory that wants to invest in health care.

Singh also addressed the rising rate of hate crimes across the country.

Over the last eight months, several Muslim and Black women who wear a hijab in Alberta have been targeted, violently assaulted, threatened and harassed while walking down the street or waiting for a light rail train.

Singh took a shot at Trudeau again, saying the root cause of the attacks is online radicalization, which the prime minister has talked a lot about but hasn't done much to make any changes.

"Tackling online hate is a way to get at some of the root causes. A lot of misinformation and some of the conspiracy theories comes from social media posts that radicalized people with misinformation," Singh said.

"The other piece is making sure we use hate laws appropriately. Absolutely there's problems around making sure when a crime is identified as a hate crime, that it's prosecuted that way … that's something that absolutely needs to happen."

During the announcement, Singh stood next to Heather McPherson, the MP for the only NDP riding in Alberta, Edmonton Strathcona, while he insisted his relationship was solid with former New Democrat premier Rachel Notley.

She looms large in the federal NDP's quest to retain its Alberta seat and perhaps expand into other ridings.

The two hold opposing views on the Trans Mountain pipeline and Notley has been vocal about their disagreement on it, but Singh says the two chat regularly and have far more in common.

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The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2021.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.