NDP leader Jagmeet Singh recently did an ad in French, targeting Quebec's controversial Bill 21, which depicts him in the opening shot without his turban on. The bill prohibits public sector employees in positions of authority from wearing religious headwear while on the job. Jagmeet Singh's French ad has garnered much attention online, sparking a discussion focused around his decision to take it off in the commercial to appease the Quebec population.



The commercial was meant to win over Quebecers and prove to them that Singh, a practicing Sikh, is open, transparent, and willing to talk about difficult issues, Global News reports. There have been mixed reviews from Canadians on the ad.

The party's slogan is "in it for you" and "on se bat pour vous" in French, which translates into "we're fighting for you". The NDP released two ads, one in English and one in French.

Singh has since publicly explained why he took off his turban for the French language ad. He did not take it off for the English version, by the way.



"When it comes to Bill 21, I've said it before, but, to me, it's sad because it tells people that it's okay to discriminate someone because of the way they look," he said in a public interview. "I've been told that in my life, I know lots of people are told that."

This is the French language ad, for which the comments are disabled:

This is the English version, where comments are also disabled. Notice that, in the English ad, he did not remove his turban: