OTTAWA—Long-serving MP Nathan Cullen endorsed Jagmeet Singh for the NDP leadership on Wednesday, praising the candidate’s “enormous energy” and ability to connect with a broad and diverse range of Canadian voters.

The New Democrat from British Columbia said he arrived at the decision after much contemplation, but ultimately concluded that Singh’s presence on social media and ability to draw crowds are “fundamental criteria to modern politics,” and that — unlike Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — Singh would not abandon progressive pledges like electoral reform if he wins power.

Cullen added that he was also enticed by Singh’s proposals for the environment and Indigenous peoples.

“We have a candidate here who at this moment in our time, in our history as a party, ticks all the boxes for me,” Cullen told reporters at a joint press conference with Singh on Wednesday.

“In the end, I knew what this party needed, I knew what this country needed, and it’s a leader like Jagmeet Singh.”

Cullen is a prominent member of the NDP caucus who represents a large riding in northern B.C. and was first elected in 2004. He ran for the federal leadership in 2012 when Tom Mulcair took over the party after Jack Layton’s death, and recently completed a cross-country tour to voice outrage over the Liberal government’s abandonment of its promise to change the voting system.

Singh has already declared unequivocally that he will win the NDP leadership race — “I will win,” he said in a recent Montreal debate — and spoke again Wednesday as if his victory were a foregone conclusion.

“We have an incredible team of 44 MPs that are going to do great work in the House, and I’m looking forward to working with all of them,” Singh said, adding that this includes his opponents in the leadership race: federal MPs Charlie Angus, Niki Ashton and Guy Caron.

The provincial legislator from Brampton is the only candidate that does not have a federal seat. He said Wednesday that, while he’s open to advice on the matter, he does not plan to rush into the House of Commons before the 2019 election, pointing out that Layton didn’t have a seat either when he won the leadership in 2003.

Singh’s lack of a federal seat has been questioned by Angus, who was first elected with Cullen in 2004 and is the most experienced MP in the leadership race. Earlier this week, Mulcair also told reporters that the next leader should have a seat so that he or she can spar with the prime minister in question period.

Cullen later said “it’s unfortunate” Mulcair, as outgoing leader, entered the debate at all. He repeated Wednesday that he believes it would be an asset to have the next leader tour the country while the team in Ottawa works in Parliament.

“We were incredibly strong in the House of Commons during the last Parliament (when Mulcair was opposition leader), yet not so much out of the bubble,” he said, pointing out that Trudeau spent a lot of time away from Parliament before the 2015 election, when the Liberals won a majority government.

The four NDP leadership candidates are making their final case to party voters before balloting begins on Monday. National caucus chair Daniel Blaikie says the NDP will advocate for the same issues regardless of who becomes leader.

Cullen added that Singh did not try to cut a deal to earn his support in the leadership race — by promising him a certain critic’s role, for example, or pledging to emphasize a given priority as leader. “Nothing was asked; nothing was offered,” Cullen said, describing this as the “cleanest way” to earn an endorsement.

Another issue following Singh in the final days of the leadership campaign involves the turban and kirpan that he wears as a practising Sikh. Bloc Québécois Leader Martine Ouellet said this week that Singh is part of the rise of a “religious left” in Canadian politics, and that most Quebecers don’t want politicians to promote any religion.

“His primary values are related to his religion,” she told reporters. “In Quebec, we decided to have a separation between religion and the state, and that’s really important for the liberty of all religions.”

Caron, who brought the Quebec secularism debate into the NDP leadership campaign last month, denounced Ouellet’s comments in a statement on Facebook Tuesday. “Has she forgotten that there were two Catholic priests in the first (René) Lévesque government — one of the most progressive in Quebec’s history?

“Secularism of the state in Quebec has never meant that our politicians can’t display their faith. What matters is their ideas and their values. Sadly, Martine Ouellet missed an opportunity to languish in her anonymity.”

Singh, meanwhile, said Wednesday that he is confident he can win in Quebec and that he firmly believes in the separation of religion and the state.

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“My experience in Quebec is that people in Quebec are open-minded, open-hearted; it’s one of the most progressive provinces in Canada,” he said, with policies like affordable tuition and child care.

“The values that I have are the values of social democracy, progressive beliefs, standing for the rights of all people, and that’s what’s going to (connect with) the people of Quebec.”

Singh’s campaign says it has brought in 47,000 new members to the party, which has a total membership of 124,000. He also raised more than $350,000 in donations during the second quarter of the year — more than his three leadership rivals combined.

NDP members started voting by ranked ballot online and by mail for a new leader on Monday. The results of the first ballot will be unveiled in Toronto on Oct. 1.

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