A federal byelection will be held in February for a British Columbia riding where NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh plans to run, 麻豆传媒 has confirmed.
In addition to Burnaby South, the federal Liberals will also call byelections in two other ridings: the Montreal riding of Outremont, left vacant by the resignation of former NDP leader Tom Mulcair; and the Ontario riding of York-Simcoe, left vacant by the resignation of Conservative MP Peter Van Loan.
All three byelections will be called in January and held in February.
Singh and other opposition party leaders have been calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call byelections in all vacant federal ridings.
Singh, who does not have a seat in Parliament, said Thursday that he was initially 鈥渢roubled鈥� because Trudeau hadn鈥檛 called the byelections.
He had previously announced his intentions to run in Burnaby South and accused the prime minister of 鈥減laying some petty political games鈥� by calling a byelection in only one of the four vacant ridings -- Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes in eastern Ontario.
鈥淚鈥檓 now encouraged to see that there is confirmation that this is going to happen. It gives us an opportunity to give people a chance to hold this government to account,鈥� he told CTV鈥檚 Power Play host Don Martin on Thursday.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing, again and again, that this government鈥檚 priorities aren鈥檛 everyday people,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his byelection for me is an opportunity for us to talk about what鈥檚 at stake for Canadians.鈥�
Singh said those issues include affordable housing, the rising cost of prescription drugs and climate change, among others.
The Liberals plan to run candidates in all four byelections, rather than standing aside in Burnaby South to give Singh a better chance of securing a seat in the House of Commons.
Asked what he will do if he loses the byelection, Singh said: 鈥淚鈥檓 going to continue to fight hard, there鈥檚 no question about that.鈥�
With files from The Canadian Press
