Singh stands by comments calling Bloc Quebecois MP racist

Jagmeet Singh, the NDP leader, is standing by the comments that resulted in his removal from the House of Commons on Wednesday after he called a Bloc Quebecois MP racist, reports CTV News.

Singh was kicked out after he would not agree to apologize to Alain Therrien, the Bloc Quebecois House Leader, after calling him racist. Singh made the comments after Therrien denied the approval necessary for a motion against systemic racism in connection with the RCMP.

Singh was looking to pass a motion requesting that the House recognize systemic racism in the RCMP and he was seeking unanimous consent. The motion also involved looking into the RCMP budget, federal law governing the police force and other accountability measures.

“I don't back down from standing up to racism… I don't think it benefits me to call people names, I was angry at the moment and I stand by it,” noted Singh during a press conference following the sitting which was held to look over recent federal spending measures.

“In that moment I got angry, but I am sad now, because why can’t we act? Why can’t we do something to save peoples’ lives? We can do something, and why would someone say no to that?”

The other parties seemed to be on board with the motion but the Bloc Quebecois rejected the motion with an audible “no.”

A verbal confrontation between Singh and Therrien then began and Claude Debellefeuille then asked for the House of Commons Speaker to call for order. She added that Singh used unparliamentary language to insult her colleague.

Singh then said in French, “It’s true, I called him a racist.”

He was then removed from the sitting by the House Speaker after refusing to apologize.

“In this moment where Indigenous people are being killed and being brutalized, Black people are being killed and brutalized in Canada. We've not seen any action,” Singh said when speaking to reporters.

“And in that moment, we put forward this motion, but I thought given where we are, given what's going on, given the lack of action, here is something we can do concretely to actually make a difference… Kind of shocked that anyone would say no to this motion.”

DeBellefeuille requested an apology from Singh for the second time in a statement adding that the Bloc Quebecois are for looking into discrimination and racism in the RCMP but did not want to come to conclusions too soon. She added that Therrien’s reputation was tarnished by Singh’s insult.