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Singh got his seat. But will he have time for Burnaby South?

Jagmeet Singh can finally rest easy. At least for one night. The federal NDP leader won the Burnaby South byelection tonight (Monday) – finally becoming a Member of Parliament.
jagmeet singh on election night
Jagmeet Singh is now the MP for Burnaby South. But will have have time for his riding? JENNIFER GAUTHIER PHOTO

Jagmeet Singh can finally rest easy.

At least for one night.

The federal NDP leader won the Burnaby South byelection tonight (Monday) – finally becoming a Member of Parliament.

This will make things a little easier as Singh works on an even bigger task - winning this fall’s federal election.

That won’t be easy, of course, because the NDP are a distant third in all recent polls behind the Conservatives and the Liberals, and are struggling to raise money to wage a full election campaign. The NDP lost the other two federal byelections Monday night.

Singh put everything he had into the byelection. He moved to Burnaby (yes he did, despite the conspiracy theories of some terrible people), spent a lot of money on advertising and campaigned full-time for several months and won.

So who knows – maybe he can pull off a miracle.

I give Singh major credit for trying to run a positive campaign and calling out the “coded language” as he called it of some of the other candidates, especially on the issue of refugees.

The big question for Burnaby South voters is will he actually be there for them. Being leader of a party sucks up nearly all of an MP’s time, leaving little time for their riding.

What does that mean for people who need help with such things as passports, immigration problems or housing? MPs do a lot for their constituents, but party leaders have little time for that kind of thing.

And it’s not like the NDP is running at peak capacity. A long list of veteran or incumbent NDP MPs have announced they are not running again, which means spending a lot of time trying to recruit good candidates and fighting the perception that people are jumping off a sinking ship.

Singh got his wish to become an MP and it will be a big advantage, but he has a herculean task at this point.