Jagmeet Singh on GST holiday, U.S.A. tariffs and border security

Evan Bray welcomed federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to the show after the announcement and vote last week to table a GST holiday for Canadians over the coming months.

Singh said, “For folks out there that are feeling they’re working as hard as they can, they’ve got a decent job and still can’t get by, I’m fighting for you. Singh supports the idea of a strong border security agency and criticizes past Conservative government cuts to border security.”

Topics discussed include GST Holiday Discussion, Relationship with Provincial Governments, Cooperation with Conservatives and Pension Concerns, Timing of the Next Federal Election, Immigration and Border Control Concerns, Threat of U.S. Tariffs and Border Security and Funding the GST Holiday and $250 Rebate Check.

Listen to Jagmeet Singh on The Evan Bray Show:

Is the Liberal government’s two-month GST break enough?

SINGH: Our plan was a better plan to put it frankly. We wanted to get the GST off of monthly bills, like your cell phone bill, internet bill, and home heating. We wanted to get it off of daily essentials as well, and we wanted to be permanent.

The GST was never supposed to apply to essentials, cell phones, internet, home, heating or essentials. So we want to make sure it is removed from these essentials.

Our plan would have been long-term, would have been permanent. Would have given people that relief for a long time, and it would be immediate. So we forced, effectively, our pressure by saying, This is what I would do. Forced the Liberals to do it, but they included a letdown.

The letdown is it’s temporary. We still want to get people that release. So we forced the government to move ahead with this. It’s done now. So people are going to get that release and, well, I’m going to, when I’m Prime Minister, I’ll make it permanent.

What do you cut to make the permanent change to the structure of the GST?

We are in the homeland of New Democrats, where Tommy Douglas was Premier. Tommy said that you always have to make sure you are living within your means.

Before he brought in Medicare, he was able to run a really good economy and keep the budget at appropriate levels. So we said, to pay for this, we want to do something that the United Kingdom has done, that Germany has done, that Spain has done, which is to put in excess profit tax on some of the companies, or some of the corporations that have made record profits in the past couple years.

This is an estimated revenue generator in the billions and billions of dollars. The PBO puts it well over 10 billion. Other estimates can say it’s as high as 15 billion yearly in terms of revenue. So it’s something other governments have used effectively, and we can do it here in Canada.

You’ve put a pause on the $250 checks because you want more people included. Is this the best way to spend billions of dollars?

It’s not my preferred option. I had lots of other ideas in terms of how we could give people permanent relief, like taking off the GST on people’s monthly bills. That’s not just for the next couple of months, that’s permanently.

Having that off of your cell phone or internet would help lower your bills for the long term. That’s my approach. I would do things differently. But if it’s going to happen, and I know people would benefit from it, it’s got to go to the people who need it most.

The fact that the current plan didn’t include seniors, didn’t include people with disabilities. I said, No, we’re not going to do it until it includes the people that need it most.

If you were the leader in charge of handling Donald Trump’s 25% tariff, what would be your strategy?

I absolutely agree that Canadians would benefit from having a strong border. The Harper government, when they were in power, cut that border security agency massively. The border security officers are still complaining about those cuts, as over 1000 officers were fired under the Conservative government. So I would reverse that. I actually came out with an announcement saying I would reverse that cut immediately. We hire those 1000 workers.

We know that illegal guns and drugs come across the border into Canada, and we feel the impacts of that. So it would keep our country safer. So if it satisfies the demand, it actually benefits Canadians, I would do that right away.

The threat of those tariffs immediately had an impact on our country. Our dollar dropped. We know this is not an idle thing. This is something that has a real impact on our lives. The dollar dropping means it’s even harder to buy imported fruits and vegetables, which often are what we buy in the grocery store. We need to make sure it’s very clear that these tariffs are not just going to have impacts on Canadians, but they’re going to have impacts on Americans.

We also need to be prepared for retaliatory tariffs, which we did during the aluminum and steel tariff war that began with Trump when he was in power. We respond with tariffs, and they show that there’s harm.

You can’t think that this is going to happen without any cost to America. Our economies are so intertwined. The final thing is to have everything ready to go. We can’t be caught flat-footed. I’ve said we need a Jobs War Room up and running, we need to prepare our legal cases. The threat of terrorists might be violating existing trade agreements. Let’s prepare our case and have it ready, so we can challenge it immediately and fight back.

Are you worried about the immigration part? Considering the people on the terror watch list at the borders and how we’ve opened the floodgates over the last few years.

In terms of immigration, we need a system to keep Canadians safe. We need immigration. We need a system that’s clear and transparent, and often the existing system doesn’t have that clarity, doesn’t have that transparency.

A lot of folks don’t understand what’s going to happen, there’s lots of wait times. There’s lots of things that need to be fixed, but paramount in all of our systems, has to be keeping Canadians safe, and so that ensures having enough workers to do that.

Part of the reason why we’re in this mess, we don’t have enough folks to do the proper checks to ensure that we’re keeping our country safe. The fact the Border Security Agency, the frontline of defense was cut massively by the conservatives.

I would reverse that immediately. I know that we need to keep our country safe and to do that, we need the people to do it. We need the men and women who serve on our borders to be able to keep us safe. And I would ensure we invest in it.

When will the next federal election be? Many people presumed we’d see once shortly after the supply and confidence agreement was torn up.

By law, there will be an election in 2025, every four years we have one.

People will have an important choice. I think most of Canada feels let down by the liberals and Justin Trudeau, and we’re not going to give them another chance.

People are going to have to choose conservatives who want to cut health care, who want to cut your pensions, Pierre Poilievre, who wants to cut the dental care program that’s helped out so many seniors and kids, or New Democrats who want to cut your bills, want to make life more affordable. That’s going to be a choice that people will make.

Why wait? You’ve had a couple of opportunities to support a conservative motion to bring the government down.

It comes as no surprise that I don’t support conservatives or their motion motions. Pierre Polieve wants to cut dental care.

I want to cut PharmaCare before it happens. I want to see people get free diabetes medication. That bill just passed in the Senate. Negotiations are happening with provinces. We’re seeing P.E.I. just signed up. I want to see more provinces sign up and people get free diabetes medication.

I didn’t get that done just for fun. I got it done so that people actually will get diabetes medication covered. I think it’s a big deal. I know how costly it is and I know how many sacrifices people make. I want to see a benefit go into people’s pockets before an election happens. So I wanted to make sure that that that moves ahead.

I also want to see dental care expanded. Right now we’ve got seniors and kids. The next phase will be for everyone who earns less than 90,000 that phase has already been budgeted for. The money’s already there. I want to see people get that benefit. So there are things that I want to see happen.

There is going to be an election, but I’m not gonna play Pierre Poilievre games. If there’s a bill that’s presented by the liberals or a motion presented by them that I don’t support, I won’t support it. And then if that caused an election, so be it. But I’m not gonna support a conservative motion to cut people’s dental care or to cut people’s tensions.

Is there a way for the N.D.P. to work together with the conservatives? As there is a strong hold in our province for them.

If there was something that we agreed on, I’d be open to it. But the reality is — they want to privatize health care. I want to make it easier to see a doctor. They want to help out their CEO buddies and their billionaire friends. I want to make sure working-class folks get help.

I don’t see any alignment on anything they want to cut the dental care that we fought for. I think seniors deserve to get their teeth looked after. So I just don’t see any sort of common ground like everything they want to do seems to want to hurt people. And my whole goal to get into politics was to help people. So I don’t, I don’t see any alignment they want to help out the super-rich. I don’t think there’s any benefit in that. I Why? How people who are already doing well, we should help the folks who need help the most.

On social media, some say you avoid triggering the election because you and a few others are close to being vested in your pensions. What’s your response?

That’s a silly lie brought up by the conservatives. I have no concerns about any election coming. I’m obviously going to get reelected, so I’m not worried about that.

But more importantly, I’m fighting for people’s dental care. I’m fighting for people’s ability to get PharmaCare. I’m fighting for concrete things to make people’s lives better.

And the Conservatives know that, and Pierre Poilievre knows that he’s not unfamiliar with the idea of lying to say whatever. You’ll hear him say, there’s been an NDP government for nine years. He knows that’s a lie. He says it again and again. He’s a person who doesn’t care about the truth and doesn’t care about the facts, and so he’ll say whatever it is, but for folks, they should know it’s a lie.

I’ve been fighting for people, and I’ve been clear. I want to get things done to make people’s lives better, and I’m not at all concerned about getting re-elected. It’s not a person, not a concern of mine. I’m not a career politician like Pierre Poilievre. I was a successful lawyer for many years. I represented provincially for many years.

I’m not worried about an election. I’m not worried about my political future. What I am worried about is making sure people get some help. I’m worried about people getting the support they need. I’m worried about people getting dental care and getting their medication covered, and that’s what I’m fighting for.

Is there an effort coming forward to build a relationship with our province, from you and the Federal NDP?

Well, I want the people of Saskatchewan to know I’m very concerned about everyday folk’s lives and their struggles. I can tell you I was someone who went through a lot of struggles myself. My family went through lots of ups and downs. My parents had to go through a really difficult bankruptcy when I was young, I had to take care of my kid brother. You need to come live with me when I was 20, going to university, is not something that everyone has to do, but I had to work multiple minimum-wage jobs to be able to provide for him and for myself when we were both living together.

I know what the struggles are like. For folks out there feeling they’re working as hard as they can, they’ve got a decent job and still can’t get by, I’m fighting for you. I understand what those struggles are like, and I’m going to make sure that whether you live in Saskatchewan, whether you live in BC, or you live in Ontario, I’m going to make sure that you have something that’s going to fight for you.