Jagmeet Singh is to tell the first meeting of the NDP caucus that pursuing Indigenous rights including access to clean drinking water will be a key priority for the party in this Parliament. The first meeting of all New Democrat MPs since the election will take place in Ottawa on Wednesday afternoon. Five new MPs will be introduced at the caucus meeting, including Blake Desjarlais, a two-spirit Metis leader, who defeated the sitting Tory in Edmonton Griesbach. The NDP returned 25 MPs one more than last time and was the only major party to increase its share of the vote.
'Empty promises' slammed
Jagmeet Singh is focusing on what he’s calling Justin Trudeau’s empty promises as the New Democratic Party leader travels in northern Ontario to start the last week of campaigning. Singh says, for a government, it’s not what you say that matters, it’s what you do. The NDP leader will later be campaigning in Neskantaga First Nation, which had a boil water advisory issued more than 25 years ago. Trudeau promised in 2015 to lift all drinking water advisories by this March, but his government has since acknowledged it would not meet that goal.