Why Jagmeet Singh lost his cool during the French-language debate

OTTAWA — The microphone was cut only once during the French-language debate on Wednesday night, and it was to stop NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh from speaking. Near the end of the debate, Singh accused other leaders of wanting to cut health care when Radio-Canada veteran anchor Patrice Roy, who was moderating the event, said he needed to move on to other subjects because time was limited. Roy called Singh’s name two times, before counting to three. Singh didn’t stop. “Cut the mic,” Roy told his producers. Turning to the NDP leader, he said he had let him go on a little longer earlier in the debate, but added he now needed “to speed it up”. Two minutes later, Singh was asked about Quebec’s controversial use of the notwithstanding clause to protect the French language. He said he agreed with the need to protect French and quickly pivoted to attack Roy, whom he accused of silencing him. “During this debate, I tried to raise the question of health a few times and Mr. Roy stopped me several times,” he said. “Look at the time on the clock,” he added. The clock indeed showed that Singh had spoken the least out of all the four leaders on stage at 18:46 minutes. In comparison, the others were closer to 22 or 23 minutes. “It’s a question of identity in this country. I’m passionate about questions of health and every time I tried to speak about it, Mr. Roy stopped me. It’s unfair,” Singh added. The moderator said the subject of health came up earlier in the debate but ultimately let the NDP leader say his piece about how he believes other leaders will cut health care. In the end, Singh ended up speaking for a total of 22:10 minutes, whereas the other leaders spoke closer to 25 minutes. In his closing remarks, Roy apologized for having cut his microphone. Speaking after the debate, Singh said he felt very “passionate” in the moment. “Ultimately, the (time) difference wasn’t as big, but initially I was worried about it,” said Singh about the original time discrepancy between him and the other leaders. The leader of the New Democrats said he was “really proud” that he was able to make the case to Canadians that his party would “stand up” for free and universal health care. “It is so fundamental to who we are as a country. We fundamentally believe that we should take care of each other, and health care represents that value. So, I raised that,” he said. Singh said he spoke with Roy after the debate and there was no bad blood between them. The English-language debate is set to take place Thursday evening at 7 p.m. ET. National Post calevesque@postmedia.com

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