Singh to New Democrats: Now Is the Time to Protect What “Makes Us Canadian”

OTTAWA— NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh used his Progress Summit speech to issue a clear warning: with threats on the horizon—from Donald Trump’s trade agenda to deep Conservative and Liberal cuts—the fight to protect what makes us Canadian starts now.

With a federal election on the horizon, Singh pointed to one of the first and most consequential decisions the next government will face—a federal budget—and laid out how New Democrats will fight to ensure it reflects the urgent priorities of working and middle-class Canadians.

“We know what’s coming,” Singh told a packed room of organizers, activists, and policy leaders. “A budget shaped by pressure from billionaires, corporate lobbyists, and looming negotiations with Donald Trump. But we will not trade away what it means to be Canadian. Not now. Not ever.”

Singh warned that while Conservatives are pushing deep cuts and Americanization, and Liberals under Mark Carney are flirting with austerity rebranded as “discipline”—including $43 billion in proposed cuts to health care and social services—New Democrats are standing firm.

The speech follows the release of the NDP’s new campaign video urging Canadians to “keep Canada, Canada”—a message now framing the party’s vision for how to respond to both domestic and global pressures in the months ahead.

Singh emphasized that these are not distant promises—they are immediate commitments to meet the urgency working and middle-class Canadians are feeling every day:

Protecting and expanding public health care — including a commitment to family doctors for all, hiring more nurses and health care workers, universal Pharmacare starting with essential medicines, and stopping the steady creep of privatization.

Concrete affordability measures — such as national rent control, a cap on grocery prices, and real fixes to EI so that losing your job doesn’t mean losing everything.

Standing firm on trade — rejecting any Trump-influenced deal that threatens Canadian sovereignty, workers’ rights, environmental protections, Indigenous rights, or social programs.

Ending handouts for the ultra-wealthy — by refusing corporate tax cuts, closing tax havens, and demanding that CEOs and billionaires finally pay their fair share.

“If Pierre Poilievre forms a minority government, we will not support him. And if Mark Carney thinks he can balance the books by cutting health care while protecting millionaires, he won’t have our support either,” Singh said.

The message speaks directly to the voters being left behind—working-class Canadians, renters, families, and young people who feel like politics hasn’t delivered for them.

“With enough New Democrats in Ottawa, we can make sure the next budget reflects our priorities—not the priorities of billionaires, CEOs, or foreign politicians,” Singh said to thunderous applause.