Singh still in fighting form even as polls suggest NDP is struggling with voters

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is used to his critics claiming that his personal style — the designer suits, the Rolex watch — contradicts his insistence that he, and only he, is not representing the interests of millionaires on Parliament Hill.

Conservatives started calling him a “Maserati Marxist” last year after he was photographed near a luxury SUV on Parliament Hill last fall.

But for Singh, the clothes and the way he presents himself are part of a legacy inherited from his father — a self-made immigrant from India who never felt entirely sure of his status in Canada.

“So he studied cross-legged on a dirt floor in a village school in Punjab, and he became the chief of psychiatry in a western hospital. That’s my dad’s rise,” Singh said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press in the back of his campaign bus.

“He was always a bit insecure that people wouldn’t think that he belonged because of maybe the way he looked, the colour of his skin, his accent. My dad was always well-dressed when he went to work and he really thought, ‘You got to look the part if you want to get a job, if you want to be treated with respect …’

“So a lot of my belief in the way I show myself is because I want people to believe that I’m there to do this job, I’m capable of it.”

Singh’s style has changed as the campaign has gone along. As the ground has shifted under his feet, he has replaced the three-piece suits with sweaters and jeans.

At the end of last summer, Singh abandoned the deal he struck with former prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2022. It was the deal that pushed the Liberals to enact the beginnings of a national pharmacare and a dental care program — things the NDP had fought for years to make happen.

He was ready to go it alone, separate himself and his party from a Liberal government that was plummeting in popularity, and make the pitch for the NDP as the progressive alternative to the surging Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre.

For a time it seemed like that pitch was plausible — the NDP were neck-and-neck with the Liberals and even gained a small lead on them in some polls. But Singh and the NDP still voted with the government to keep it alive, putting off an election many thought the NDP wasn’t quite ready to fight.

And then came Trudeau’s departure and the return of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose trade wars and repeated musings about making Canada a U.S. state completely upended the campaign before it really began.

Alarmed by Trump and uncomfortable with the idea of a Poilievre-led Conservative government, many NDP supporters seem to be abandoning the party for the Liberals.

The party has seen its share of support in opinion polls drop by half since the start of the year, from around 20 per cent in January to single digits on the campaign trail. The Liberals, meanwhile, have surged into first place.

Instead of fighting to win this election, to present a viable option for government, Singh is fighting for his party’s very life. Instead of answering questions every day about his platform, he’s in the uncomfortable position of talking, at almost every campaign stop, about his party’s future.

But Singh seems determined not to let that get him down. At a campaign stop in Saskatoon on April 9, Singh did his level best to rev up the small crowd surrounding him.

“We’re going to show them that we’re ready,” he yelled. “We’re ready to fight, we’re ready to win. Here we go. Get ready! Get warmed up! Here we go!”

When the music began he started jumping up and down, his fist raised high in the air. Many of the supporters surrounding him jumped along with him, while some others just stared at him or stood by looking uncertain.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Singh said he’s still excited and in “good spirits.”

“I really, I love the campaign,” he said. “I love my team. I get to spend time with people I really care about, care about what we can do together.”

Singh travels with a small, tight-knit team of campaign workers who share laughs, listen to music and talk about favourite movies during moments of downtime between campaign stops. At one point early in the campaign, Singh enthusiastically shared with journalists and staffers on the campaign bus his love for the 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Conan the Barbarian.

His inner circle includes Amneet Singh — a longtime friend who helped give him his first push into politics — and Singh’s younger brother Gurratan.

Amneet said that in the NDP leader’s hometown of Brampton, Ont., in the late 2000s and early 2010s, “hundreds” of young Sikh activists saw Singh as a big brother due to the mentorship work he did in the community.

He said that’s why he first pitched Gurratan on the idea of trying to convince his brother to run federally in the 2011 general election.

“I remember … the day he said yes. I moved out of my dorm directly into his house. They gave me a bedroom to station up in and we ran his campaign,” Amneet said.

Singh lost that first federal run but became an Ontario NDP MPP later that year and eventually deputy leader of the provincial party. In 2017, he was elected leader of the federal NDP, replacing Tom Mulcair.

Now, nearly 15 years after that first federal campaign, Amneet is riding the roads with Singh, working as his digital director.

Born in Toronto, Singh spent part of his early childhood in St. John’s, Nfld., before moving to Windsor, Ont.

As a child he also began training in martial arts after his parents enrolled him in karate classes due to bullying he endured as a brown, turban-wearing kid in Ontario.

Martial arts gyms became a refuge for the young Singh as he took up wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and competed in grappling tournaments throughout his university years.

“I enjoy the physicality of it. I enjoy the honour between two opponents … when you kind of match your skill and your abilities against each other, and then the respect you have for one another. So I really value that,” he said.

Singh’s life has changed considerably since he arrived in Ottawa in 2017. He was married in 2018 and he and his wife, influencer and fashion designer Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu, now have two daughters. Ahnad is three, and Dani Kaur, 16 months old.

Amneet said what excites Singh most about federal politics is the idea of turning the party’s ideals into practical policy, like dental care.

“If that is your North Star, what can you do to help people, then people are going to respond, right? So, yeah, it’s a beautiful thing to be here, and I’m grateful,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2025.