Jagmeet Singh's First Meeting With Justin Trudeau Was Twice As Long As Andrew Scheer's

Earlier this week, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh revealed that he was totally prepared for his first meeting with Justin Trudeau. After an hour-long chat at Parliament Hill, it seems that Singh’s planning paid off, as both leaders left their meeting praising one-another. While Trudeau and Singh’s first meeting went well, the same can’t be said for Trudeau's meetings with Andrew Scheer and Scott Moe.

After a week of difficult meetings, it seems that Justin Trudeau has finally found a break in the form of NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh.

Although Singh made it clear prior to their meeting that he wouldn’t be going easy on the newly re-elected Prime Minister, Singh left their Thursday-morning meeting feeling “hopeful.”

After sitting down with the Prime Minister for over an hour, Singh told reporters that he’d touched on three issues: healthcare, action on the climate crisis, and Indigenous justice.

Singh added that although Trudeau didn’t make a firm commitment to dropping the appeal on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling, he didn’t “close the door” on dropping it either.

 “That to me is a sign of openness,” Singh explained.

The NDP leader met with Justin Trudeau in Ottawa on Thursday morning, as part of the Prime Minister’s series of meetings with opposition leaders before Parliament resumes on December 5.

While Singh did say there was a "chance" the NDP would not support the throne speech, his chat with the PM seemed to be a whole lot more successful than Trudeau's earlier meetings this week.

On Tuesday, Trudeau met with Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who came out of the meeting accusing Trudeau of "sowing divisions during the election campaign.”

Their meeting ended-up lasting less than 30 minutes, and Scheer took to social media afterwards to say Canada was “as divided as it ever has been.”

The Prime Minister also met with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe earlier this week, to discuss the growing issue of alienation in the West.

Again, the meeting seemed to be less-than-fruitful, as Moe emerged “disappointed,” saying, “I can tell you this - I did not hear that there is going to be anything different, there is going to be more of the same.”

He added, “We had provided some options for him to support the people of the province and today I did not hear a commitment to moving forward on those items."

Singh left a letter with Trudeau today, which lists the policies and projects he'd like to see on the government's upcoming agenda.

"It is our expectation – and that of Canadians – that the upcoming throne speech will include a clear timetable that lays out a path to implementing universal, comprehensive, public pharmacare without delay," it reads.

"In this Parliament they're going to need to work with us ... I want to make it clear that isn't going to come for free," Singh explained.

Justin Trudeau will convene the new Parliament on Thursday, December 5.

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