In the wake of last month’s federal elections, in which Trudeau held onto the prime minister’s post but his Liberal Party lost the majority in Parliament, Deconstructed headed to Toronto for the Hot Docs Podcast Festival. There, Mehdi Hasan talked to two of Canada’s leading politicians. Ahmed Hussen is the immigration minister in Trudeau’s cabinet — an immigrant himself who arrived in Canada from war-torn Somalia in the ’90s. Jagmeet Singh is the leader of the New Democratic Party and the first Sikh to head a major political party in Canada. Hasan sat down with Singh and Hussen to discuss Canada’s reputation as a shining beacon of Western multiculturalism and whether it’s truly deserved.
Jagmeet Singh: One of the things that I’m so proud of is that young kids would come up to me from so many different backgrounds and say “Seeing you run for prime minister makes me feel like I can do anything.”
[Music interlude.]
Mehdi Hasan: Welcome to a very special episode…
