Jagmeet Singh Just Sent An Official Complaint About Maxime Bernier Being Allowed To Debate

The federal election just keeps getting messier. Most recently, Maxime Bernier's debate invitation just resulted in a complaint letter from the NDP. In the letter, party leader Jagmeet Singh is making his opposition to having Bernier included in two leaders' debates next month known and he does not hold back.

On Monday the Leaders' Debates Commission announced that Bernier is allowed to participate in two televised debates next month, one in English and one in French. The news obviously didn't sit well with Singh. 

On Tuesday, Singh sent a letter to David Johnston, head of the Leaders' Debates Commission, stating that the decision to include Bernier in these election debates is wrong. Singh called out Bernier and his party for misinforming people, being racist and spreading hateful ideology. 

"I am troubled by your decision to allow the leader of the People's Party of Canada in the debates. It is wrong that Mr. Bernier be given a platform to promote and ideology of hate that spreads prejudice and disinformation," Singh wrote in the letter to the commission. 

The commission is tasked with organizing two leaders' debates in English and French for this year's federal election but they didn't initially include the People's Party of Canada's leader. 

In his letter, Singh cites Bernier's comments about climate activist Greta Thunberg as another reason why he shouldn't be allowed to debate.

"And just this month, he publicly attacked a 16 year-old climate activist," Singh wrote.

Bernier faced criticism from Canadians when he went after Thunberg in a Twitter thread a few weeks ago, calling her "clearly mentally unstable. Not only autistic, but obsessive-compulsive, eating disorder, depression and lethargy, and she lives in a constant state of fear."

There are some very mixed reactions to Singh's letter, some people on Twitter have questioned Singh's understanding of debates while others are calling him brave for standing up about this. 

In regards to everything Bernier has done, Singh wrote that "these are not the actions of a person who has earned the privilege of promoting their agenda on a national stage."

Singh ended the letter urging the commissioner to rethink his decision about letting Bernier debate. 

Last month Bernier was not invited to two major federal election debates because his party hadn't met the criteria needed to participate in a debate. 

Liberal, Conservative, Green, NDP and Bloc Québécois leaders all got invitations when Bernier didn't.

The English debate will be on Oct. 7 and the French debate will be on Oct. 10 and both will now feature all six leaders.

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