{"id":104403,"date":"2017-05-28T22:20:33","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T02:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=104403"},"modified":"2017-05-28T22:20:33","modified_gmt":"2017-05-29T02:20:33","slug":"singh-challenged-by-former-veterans-ombudsman-in-ndp-leadership-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/05\/28\/singh-challenged-by-former-veterans-ombudsman-in-ndp-leadership-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Singh challenged by former veterans ombudsman in NDP leadership debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pat<\/a>
Pat Stogran, who acquired a reputation for being outspoken as the former federal veterans ombudsman, challenged Ontario politician Jagmeet Singh after he suggested \u201can act of love\u201d is required to connect with Canadian voters. (Photo: Jagmeet Singh\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Two new candidates in the NDP leadership race wasted no time going toe-to-toe in their first appearance together Sunday at a leadership debate in Sudbury, Ont.<\/p>\n

Pat Stogran, who acquired a reputation for being outspoken as the former federal veterans ombudsman, challenged Ontario politician Jagmeet Singh after he suggested \u201can act of love\u201d is required to connect with Canadian voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that what it takes … to understand the realities of small and rural communities or communities that are isolated, it takes an act of love to understand that we are all in this together,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat our struggles are all united and the strength of Canada is when we understand we do far better when we are united.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLove isn’t enough,\u201d Stogran said. \u201cWhat’s your answer to it? How are you going to bring the voice of these people to Ottawa to speak up?\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh and Stogran are now among six official candidates looking to take over the party’s top job in October \u2013 a decision set to be made by party members who will be required to rank their choices.<\/p>\n

Manitoba MP Niki Ashton, Ontario MP Charlie Angus, Quebec MP Guy Caron and B.C. MP Peter Julian are also in the running.<\/p>\n

It is important to acknowledge Canadians don’t trust politicians of any stripe, Angus said Sunday, adding the NDP has failed to effectively reach out to communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet’s talk to people who are feeling disconnected and ripped off,\u201d Angus said. \u201cPeople who are fighting for their pensions, people who don’t have access to dental care. We’ve got to be the party that’s got their back.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is up to the New Democrats to show voters the party is willing to fight for them, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m grateful the Conservatives got their guy,\u201d he said. \u201cLet’s get down to our job.\u201d<\/p>\n

NDP leadership hopefuls were asked directly Sunday about Andrew Scheer, the new leader of the Conservative party.<\/p>\n

For her part, Ashton said she is \u201cvery concerned\u201d about Scheer’s political agenda, pointing to Scheer’s position on abortion and LGBTQ rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what Trump-like politics and Trump-like ideas look like in our own country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Scheer resembles former prime minister Stephen Harper, Caron added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s not much … different,\u201d he said. \u201cHe’s playing the same base and … we have to know exactly what that means for us and we do know because we fought those Conservatives … in Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julian said Sunday the NDP must be \u201cbold and clear\u201d on its policy positions as it looks to its future, adding this means speaking up on solutions to tackle climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means stopping Mr. Trudeau’s new raw bitumen pipelines,\u201d he said. \u201cOur members want us to take a stand. I am opposed to them \u2013 period.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are five other debates scheduled for the lengthy NDP race including in discussions in St. John’s, Saskatoon, Victoria, Montreal, and Vancouver.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2013 Two new candidates in the NDP leadership race wasted no time going toe-to-toe in their first appearance together …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":104404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[19112,1167],"class_list":["post-104403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-jagmeet-singh","tag-ndp","mauthors-kristy-kirkup","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}