Singh Seeks to Change Conservative Seats in COVID-19-Hit Grasslands | The Canadian News

Jagmeet Singh criticized the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from the provincial governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta as the NDP’s federal campaign focused on conservative-held seats in the Prairie provinces.

Singh says the prairie people are being hit harder by the fourth wave of the pandemic because their governments have failed them.

“People should be angry at the conservative prime ministers,” Singh said on Saturday. “They did a horrible job and it put people’s lives at risk.”

Singh aims to wrest prairie seats from federal conservatives, but he also targeted Justin Trudeau during a stop in Saskatoon, saying the liberal leader left the provinces in the fourth wave.

Trudeau is to blame for calling elections and not finding solutions to the pandemic, such as paid sick leave for workers, he said.

“Mr. Trudeau made a selfish choice.”

Singh has kept his eye on the Liberals throughout the campaign, arguing that the New Democrats are a viable alternative and discouraging people from strategic voting. Despite running a campaign that apparently prides itself on being positive, the new Democrats have been very negative about Trudeau.

1:13NDP on the offensive in the final push of the campaign

Singh said Canadians have a choice to make, and that means pointing out the mistakes and bad decisions of other leaders.

The popularity level of the New Democrats has not moved much in the final week of the campaign, with the party lagging behind the Liberals and Conservatives in opinion polls.

Singh did not respond to repeated questions about whether he would support the Liberals if Monday’s elections resulted in a minority government led by Trudeau. He also did not want to say whether he believes that the party that wins the most seats should have the first chance in government.

The NDP says Singh is ready to increase the number of party seats to fight in the House of Commons for what Canadians need.

He planned to visit districts in Regina and Edmonton before taking his campaign to British Columbia.