I'm beginning to think some of those opposed to Jagmeet Singh do so for reasons other than political policy.

But. You should examine this for yourself.

It was announced that Jagmeet would seek a Burnaby area federal seat after Kennedy Stewart announced that he was bowing out for a run at the Vancouver Mayor's office.

No big deal, right? Federal leader of the NDP doesn't have a seat yet, hails from a suburban Toronto area while a suburban Vancouver seat opens up. Cool. Ultimately, voters get to decide this.

For reference, a chart was put together by Integrity BC that lists off some party leaders and their byelections over the years.

Missing from this chart is Stephen Harper who ran for a Calgary area seat after Preston Manning quit the house of commons.

At issue, raised by some, is that the act of triggering a byelection as a result of quitting parliament should have the outgoing MP/MLA (etc) be billed for the electoral costs of holding a byelection.

Problem 1: Never in the history of Canada has that been done. Why should it be done now that the brown guy with a turban is seeking a federal seat?
Problem 2: I believe it would be unconstitutional. Section 3 guarantees that citizens have both the right to vote in an election and seek office for their provincial or federal legislature. Section 3 of the Charter states as much.

The quick read here is that because the guarantee on both seeking a seat and voting in an election is that the guarantee is sustained by the government ('taxpayer'). To levy a fee or fine upon the trigger of a byelection is to attach a condition of membership to said legislative assembly that I believe isn't a sustainable constitutional argument.

Jagmeet Singh wouldn't be the first federal party leader to seek a federal seat outside of his home province. He won't be the last. In fact, in almost every circumstance, the party leader in question is from outside the provincial/federal seat he/she is contesting. Only, Jagmeet is being greeted with "he's not from here, he shouldn't be allowed to run here."

Odd. The only qualifier in the constitution is that you have to be a citizen. Each party gets to determine its own rules for gaining the official nomination in said district, but no restriction exists on where a citizen could run for a seat.

So, with almost no flack given to previous party leaders but this unusual hostility towards Jagmeet, I dug deeper.

Oh. Maybe its not about policy after all. 

I'll let you in on a little research. I took a look at some of the more venomous comments towards Jagmeet and their authors and found a host of likes/forwards and other promotions of Trump style politics. Anti-immigrant memes, anti-Muslim, anti-feminist memes and the like. 

Whatever. Make your own conclusions into the motivations of those so hostile with the brown guy wearing a colourful turban. But if we're real Canadians, why we just examine the substance of his campaign and the integrity of the character. 

We are better than this. 

My 2 bits

** Update: 1130am
I've been contacted by one critic of Jagmeet parachuting himself into a seat that he lives 4000+ km from is a suggestion that he commit to moving to the seat and be a local MP properly. That's a fair comment; though, we are into the last year of the term. Whereas Premier Christy Clark never settled into the provincial seat she parachuted herself into after having lost in '13 to David Eby.