SURREY, B.C. — If the Conservatives win the most seats on election night without obtaining a majority, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will ask Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and other parties to form a coalition government. “Oh absolutely, because we are not going to support a Conservative government. We are going to fight a Conservative government. We are going to fight it all the way,” Singh said Sunday at a rally in Surrey in response to a question from HuffPost Canada about working with the Liberals, Greens and the Bloc Québécois. Singh said that while it’s a “hypothetical situation,” he is “ready to do whatever it takes” to keep the Tories from power. The NDP leader did not draw a distinction between working with the Bloc or not. “I’m ready to work with anyone,” he said in French.

Nathan Denette/CP NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks at a rally during a campaign stop in Surrey, B.C., on Oct. 13, 2019.

In 2008, the Liberals and the NDP sparked a backlash by attempting to defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservative minority government with Bloc support. Singh, whose party is enjoying a bump in the polls following his positive debate performances last week, is trying to ensure would-be NDP voters do not fear casting a ballot for New Democrat candidates will increase the odds of a Tory government. With polls suggesting the Liberals and the Conservatives are neck-and-neck, the Greens and the NDP are both fighting the possibility that progressive voters may feel they need to vote strategically for the Liberals to keep Andrew Scheer from becoming prime minister. Singh has said he believes Scheer is worse than Trudeau, but earlier on Sunday he said people should vote for the change they want.