HUMILIATING: Jagmeet Singh unable to afford campaign plane forced to travel by bus
To match their declining poll momentum, the federal NDP and leader Jagmeet Singh will be hitting the campaign trail by bus, instead of using a chartered jet like they have done in past elections.
To match their declining poll momentum, the federal NDP and leader Jagmeet Singh will be hitting the campaign trail by bus, instead of using a chartered jet like they have done in past elections.
The New Democrats revealed their campaign plan in a recent post on social media
“Our campaign bus will be making its way across the country, connecting with everyday people on the issues that matter most: health care, housing and affordability,” said the NDP via an X post on Saturday.
The party did not explain its decision to charter a bus, rather than a plane. However, the NDP has had financial struggles in the past, including incurring heavy debts during elections.
Jennifer Howard, the New Democrats’ national campaign director, told the CBC on Friday the party “is going into this election in the best financial shape since Singh became leader”—but the NDP’s most recent financial statements would suggest otherwise.
Since Singh took over the party in 2018, the balance sheet of the NDP has been on a steep and concerning decline.
In its latest audited financial statement, Jagmeet Singh’s NDP reported having only $289,808 in free cash.
To put this into context: between RRSPs, TFSAs and non-registered accounts, the average 65-year-old individual has a savings of around $319,000.
In the 2019 election, the party was required to put up assets as collateral—such as the Jack Layton Building in Ottawa—to maintain liquidity and simply stay afloat.
As of its most recent annual financial statement, the NDP still hadn’t fully repaid a loan it took out to find its 2021 election, which involved the chartering of a plane.
The financially precarious position of the party hasn’t prevented their leader from spending lavishly at the taxpayer’s expense personally, however.
As reported by the National Post, Singh expensed more than $500,000 over nine months to run his constituency office in Burnaby versus Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre who only charged $143,201.
This guy deserve to do it walking. He keeps trudo in power and now we are sticking with Mr Burns as liberal leader. Conservatives should have win this election finger in the nose if Singh had vote with Poilievre.
Is he riding on the top of the bus, with the rest of the migrants?