Thank you very much. The love is amazing. I appreciate y’all. Big thank you to Suzanne. She’s been with us from the beginning. Huge, thank you. Appreciate her so much.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you and all of you in this room, you guys poured your heart into this. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. You’re amazing. Love you all.
I know in election parties, night parties across the country, people are gathered, and I want to thank them all for all the hard work. They’re amazing people gathered together across the country.
I want to take a moment to congratulate Prime Minister Carney on his victory. He has an important job to do to represent all Canadians and to protect our country and its sovereignty from the threats of Donald Trump. Tonight and every night, all of us here, we’re on Team Canada. We want Canada to thrive, and we’re going to continue to fight for Canada.
I want to congratulate all the other leaders on a hard-fought campaign. It’s been the honour of my life to represent the people of Burnaby Central. Tonight, they chose a new member of Parliament, and I wish them well as they continue to work hard for this community.
I know this night is a disappointing night for New Democrats. We had really good candidates that lost tonight. I know how hard you worked. I spent time with you. You’re amazing. I’m so sorry you’re not gonna be able to represent your communities. I know you’re going to continue to fight for them. I know how many doors you knocked, how many family dinners you missed, how many nights your kids went to bed without you there to tuck them in. I know it was a tough sacrifice, and I just want to thank, and can we get around of applause to every single candidate that run for us. Thank you.
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Thank all those incredible candidates and their incredible teams, because no candidate can do without a team, the volunteers, the staff. Thank you to all those candidates and their incredible staffs one more time.
Choosing to commit your life to politics obviously comes with some sacrifice, but we choose this life because of the chance to change the country you love for the better. We may lose sometimes, and those losses hurt. It’s tough, but we are only defeated if we stop fighting. We’re only defeated when we believe that those that tell us that we can never dream of a better Canada, a fairer Canada, a more compassionate Canada. I have met New Democrats from coast to coast to coast, who will never back down, even when they’re told that there’s no room for them at the table. We make room for everyone because we believe that there is enough wealth in Canada for all of us to live the life that we deserve.
Honestly, I gotta avoid making eye contact with certain people, because then it’s gonna get too emotional up here. So I just made the mistake of doing that. So I’m gonna look away now. You know who you are. Don’t look at me again.
Almost eight years ago, I was elected the leader of this incredible party, this incredible movement. I’ve worked really hard to be worthy of this trust, to live up to the legacy of our movement. Tonight, I’ve been informed our party leader that I’ll be stepping down as party leader as soon as an interim leader can be appointed.
Now, I could not have done this incredible job without – here’s the point, give me a second to break down -- I couldn’t have done it without the incredible support my wife, Gurkiran.
She has been my rock. She’s been my foundation. For the past couple years, I’ve been regretting that I didn’t thank her on the night of the last election. So, this is my opportunity to make up for it. She has literally been my rock. I couldn’t have done this without her. She’s backed me up and supported me.
She has made so many sacrifices. She convinced me that she’s enjoyed them all, but I don’t know. But she’s amazing. I’m so, so thankful. Thanks for being on this journey.
I also might break down this part - and Anhad and Dani, my daughters, remind me of the future that we are fighting for. I get emotional anytime I talk about my kids. I’m very sappy when it comes to my daughters. So, I get a little emotional.
I’ve also been supported by my family, and I gotta thank my parents, who are here today. They’re amazing. Love you both. My brother, I wouldn’t have been on this journey without my brother. So big shout-out to my brother, Gurratan.
And honestly, this may sound funny, but my in-laws—I literally couldn’t have done this without my in-laws. They’re amazing. Where are my in laws? There’s somewhere here. Wherever they are, they’re here. I wanted to look at them and point at them too. Oh, there they are. I couldn’t have done it without them. Literally, if you’re a parent, you know how important your parents are and your in-laws too, it turns out. So, a huge thank you. They’ve supported us. They’ve kept me grounded, given us great advice. I’m so thankful to my family. You can’t do this work without great people, and you can’t do this without a great family supporting you. So, thank you to my family.
I’m spilling my water and everything. It’s getting a little bit -- trying to be graceful here, folks.
I also want to thank my NDP caucus. This is a team that together, we brought historic change for people. We brought real change the lives of Canadians. I know that people are concretely better off because of our work over the last eight years, and no election result will ever diminish that. So, thank you. My caucus, honestly, I’m so thankful to them all. We did some incredible work together. Seriously, every one of you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I might break down this part to forgive me, I do. I can only do this, and we can only do this work because of a great staff, and y’all just poured your heart into me into the work that we did.
It’s a good thing that there’s water here. This water is very strategically placed for me, so it’s very, it’s very, very lucky that I have. I might need a couple more glasses. So just if anyone can help me out on that, that’d be great.
You all brought your talent, your heart to the fight every day. We treat each other with respect and dignity, and with kindness and I love you all.
All right, we’re almost there, folks. There are a couple other things I really want to get off my chest here. One other thing is -- nothing too spicy. It’s just good stuff. I often speak about something my mom taught me is this Sikh teaching of Chardi Kala, and this is something fundamental to who I am. The words break down: Chardi means rising and Kala means spirits. And it’s something that captures a big part of who I am. And it’s the idea that in the fight for justice and the fight for fairness, in the fight that we fight, we want to have optimism in the face of struggle. We want to have a defiant optimism. It’s like this eternal resilience, and this is a spirit that I carry tonight.
Obviously, I’m disappointed that we could not win more seats, but I’m not disappointed in our movement. I’m hopeful for our party. I know that we will always choose hope over fear, optimism over despair, and unity over hate.
New Democrats literally built this country. We built the best of Canada, and we aren’t going anywhere. Thank you, thank you so much. Love you all.
