w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4 27
Cross ExaMinEd
Jagmeet Singh is the
NDP's justice critic in the
Ontario Legislature.
The most
interesting
man at
Queen's
Park
Jagmeet Singh
stands out for a lot
of reasons.
by arShy Mann
agmeet Singh stands out. In the
bespoke suits and custom-fitted
shirts he favours, Singh looks
like he should be on the cover
of a glossy magazine — which
he was when Toronto Life named
him to their best-dressed list last year.
His election to the Ontario
Legislature in 2011 was similarly eye-
catching. Singh increased the NDP vote
in his riding by 26 per cent, capturing
a seat his party had previously never
been competitive for. This year, while
NDP candidates across the Toronto
region were being mowed down by
the Liberals' Big Red Machine, Singh
increased his vote share by another six
and a half points. He's young too — at
35, the former criminal defence lawyer
is one of the youngest MPPs at the leg-
islature.
And there's really no other way to say
this, but Singh is cool. He's a mixed-mar-
tial arts practitioner and has competed
internationally. He gets photographed
for street-fashion blogs by people who
have no idea what his day job is. Save
for the three provincial party leaders,
Singh has more than 28,000 Twitter fol-
lowers, that's 10,000 more than the next
closest MPP.
Jagmeet Singh is used to standing out.
But he didn't always think it was a good
thing. Born in Toronto's Scarborough
area, Singh lived at various points in
India and Newfoundland before settling
J
