Singh considered stepping down in 2023 after being told of threat to his life

Singh made the revelation to reporters in a campaign stop in London, Ont. as he is fighting for his political life ahead of Monday's final vote.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Saturday that he considered stepping down after being told about a credible threat to his life in December 2023.

Singh made the revelation to reporters in a campaign stop in London, Ont. as he is fighting for his political life ahead of Monday’s final vote.

Singh said the RCMP warned him about the threat and put him and his family under heavy police protection in late 2023 and early 2024. He said thinking about what that threat could mean for his family was unnerving.

“When I got that threat, I was floored,” he said. “When I started thinking about what it meant for me and my family, that I was the target of a real threat to my life, I had the chills.”

At the time his wife, Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu, was pregnant with their second daughter. His older daughter was then almost two years old.

“For the first number of days, I just stayed in the basement because they advised me to stay away from windows,” he said. “It was a pretty serious thing.”

Singh said he had some very “tough talks” with his wife about whether or not to remain at the party helm, noting the reason for the threats was his position as “a prominent elected official.”

The NDP leader said he ultimately decided to stay on because he had more he wanted to do, including finalizing the national dental care program the party pushed the Liberals to implement.