As he continues his first-ever tour of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says he wouldn’t be reluctant to pull out of the confidence and supply agreement keeping the federal Liberals in power if he was convinced it wouldn’t work.

Singh spoke to the Star this morning from Yellowknife, where he is touring the N.W.T. after a weekend visit to the Yukon.

He said he had been meaning to see each of the territories for some time, but the COVID-19 pandemic put a crimp in those plans for more than two years.

“COVID made it difficult to get here,” he said. “It would have been irresponsible to travel here.”

Singh emphasized this was very much a working trip, not just a personal one or a junket.

His message on this trip to residents in both territories was that “the NDP has your backs.

“We have a rich tradition of that,” he said.

“It’s a work trip for sure, but I always try to make time to see more of the places I’m visiting,” he told a reporter.

Much of his focus was on talking about the rising cost of living and the effect skyrocketing inflation is having on Canadians.

He noted that’s particularly true in northern communities, which already face higher costs when compared to most places in the south.

“My purpose was to hear from the people,” Singh declared.

He said housing, health care (particularly the shortage of front-line workers) and connectivity issues (in the wake of recent outages) were all subjects he heard a great deal about during the trip here, particularly at meet-and-greets.

He also met with Indigenous representatives and heard their concerns.

“It was an incredible reception in the Yukon,” he said. “There was lots of positivity.”

That didn’t mean he escaped without a few hard questions about the party’s policies – in particular the agreement to keep the federal Liberal minority government in power through 2025.

The two parties signed the Supply and Confidence agreement last March (see related story below).

As well, Singh spent some time picking Yukon NDP Leader Kate White’s brains about her experience with the country’s only other confidence and supply agreement that’s currently in effect. The three NDP MLAs are keeping Premier Sandy Silver’s minority Liberal government in power.

The Yukon version has been in effect for more than a year.

Singh – who mentioned it to national media in Ottawa when he signed his own agreement with the federal Liberals – was interested in hearing how the Yukon deal has worked to help guide the federal accord.

His approach, though, is a little different than White’s.

“There’s a lot of similarities, a similar scenario, and we’re learning as we go,” Singh said. “We’re learning as we go. I’m very confident progress is being made.”

He seemed surprised to hear that White has said publicly that she has no intention of pulling the plug on the territorial agreement, which is currently set to expire in January 2023. That’s not his preferred approach to the concept.

“I’m not afraid to do that,” he said of killing the accord if the Liberals don’t live up to it.

“It’s a challenging framework and we’re only four months into it,” he added. “I keep telling people to give it, and us, time to make it work.”

“When I say that, people say, ‘that makes sense.’

“The last election was just over a year ago, and it was the second election in a row to create a minority government. The message is clear, and we must respect what people said.”

The new agreement, he said, will create near-universal dental coverage for Canadians, and introduce free pharmacare for the public.

Work is underway to create the necessary legislation to accomplish that, and should be introduced sometime next year.

He scoffed at the swirling rumours the Liberals are planning a November election, just two months past the one-year anniversary of the 2021 election.

He didn’t entirely shut the door on the possibility, though.

“I don’t see any evidence of that happening. However, the Liberals are always focused on themselves, and that’s why they would do something like that.”