Juno News - The Liberals could learn a thing or two from the NDP

00:00:00.000 Despite his concerns about Justin Trudeau's penchant for donning blackface and brownface,

00:00:14.560 NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is not ruling out the possibility of working with Justin Trudeau in a

00:00:20.460 coalition government if that's the situation Canadians find themselves in after the October

00:00:25.860 21st election. Mr. Singh told me this at a town hall meeting in Burnaby British Columbia he had

00:00:32.340 fielded a couple of questions about the blackface controversy in particular a phone conversation he

00:00:37.680 had had earlier in the day with Justin Trudeau the contents of which he wouldn't disclose because in

00:00:42.640 his words he didn't want to become a prop in pursuit of redemption for Justin Trudeau but I asked him

00:00:49.500 the question take a look. Andrew Lawton from True North Mr. Singh I know that you're obviously gunning

00:00:55.020 for an NDP majority but in the event of an NDP minority or a liberal minority could you serve

00:01:01.180 in a coalition government with Justin Trudeau having seen the blackface and brownface photos?

00:01:06.060 I appreciate the question and and I don't want to avoid answering it but you have to

00:01:10.380 understand that I'm running to become Prime Minister. So I can't I can't accept the premise that I

00:01:29.500 wouldn't be Prime Minister but I can still answer your question in the case that I'm a Prime Minister but

00:01:34.220 in a minority government where I'm Prime Minister. Same idea. I would work with whoever wants to work

00:01:44.060 with me to implement universal pharmacare, housing investments, fighting climate crisis, side workers.

00:01:49.660 Is that saying that the photos wouldn't have an impact if you had shared priorities with anyone

00:02:01.660 in that situation? Yeah I mean it has an impact it's had an impact I've only ruled out one party

00:02:07.740 that I wouldn't work with because of the lack of shared values I guess that's maybe two of the parties

00:02:12.380 because I definitely I said clearly I wouldn't work with the Conservatives and I don't know I don't think

00:02:17.100 this needs to be said but I certainly wouldn't work with the PPC. But yeah as difficult as it is

00:02:26.300 I've left open the door to working with other leaders who want to work with me to implement

00:02:30.860 the changes that will help people out. Now I appreciate that Mr. Singh doesn't want to entertain

00:02:35.100 a scenario in which he isn't the Prime Minister which is why I asked that follow-up question but

00:02:39.660 he's saying look his focus is going to be on working with people who share his priorities he's not going to

00:02:45.500 let this be a deal breaker. Now you may agree or disagree with this position but I must say it's

00:02:50.780 refreshing to hear a direct answer and more importantly it's refreshing for a journalist

00:02:55.660 to be able to ask the question so directly especially after several days of being stonewalled

00:03:01.500 by the Liberal campaign media team every single day. You may have followed this I've been barred from

00:03:07.820 accessing Liberal campaign media events I've been barred from Justin Trudeau's press conference

00:03:12.540 I've been told I'm not an accredited member of the media but been given no process by which I can

00:03:17.820 become accredited whereas at the NDP event for example which was taking place in the city I

00:03:23.260 already was in I just walked in registered told the press secretary who I was and he said if you're

00:03:28.780 here to report you're welcome here and that's exactly what I did. Now this is a night and day comparison

00:03:34.620 the Liberal team and the NDP team. The Liberals want to shield their leader from any potential criticism

00:03:40.700 whereas the NDP team says yeah if you're coming and you're prepared to ask a question and do it in

00:03:45.420 good faith you are welcome here and there's something to this that is very revealing which is

00:03:50.780 that the NDP is a lot more confident in its leader than the Liberals are. Now we've seen what

00:03:57.180 happens when Justin Trudeau goes off script we've seen him stammer and stumble around his words

00:04:01.980 uh at the same time he's also been the Prime Minister for four years which makes you wonder

00:04:19.340 why it is so difficult to imagine that he might be able to field a tough question here and there

00:04:24.140 whereas for Jagmeet Singh he for one hour took unscripted questions from the audience on subjects

00:04:29.500 ranging from climate change to pharmacare and then he took questions from media not just the Ottawa

00:04:35.100 national media that were following around on the bus but media that just showed up to cover the event

00:04:40.220 like I did and it was a refreshing turn of events because it's proof that there are still politicians

00:04:46.220 in Canada even if you have some ideological disagreements with them that understand the role

00:04:51.340 of the media and understand that they don't get anywhere by blocking the people that are supposed to

00:04:56.460 hold them to account from covering the events where they're laying out their plan for Canada. Kudos to

00:05:02.220 the NDP for a strategy that is working and more importantly for being as forthright about their plan

00:05:08.860 as they are. From Thunder Bay, Ontario, for True North, I'm Andrew Lutton.

Juno News - September 25, 2019

The Liberals could learn a thing or two from the NDP

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