An event in the South Okanagan planned to wrap up the campaign season for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh had a very different tone after the previous night's car ramming attack in Vancouver.
Eleven people have died so far, with others in serious condition in Lower Mainland hospitals and many more injured, after a man drove his SUV into a neighbourhood party celebrating the Filipino Lapu Lapu Day. The motivation remains unknown at this time.
Singh called on Canadians to rally together and stand with the Filipino community across the country.
"The community is reeling and it is our collective responsibility as Canadians to stand together, to put our arms around the Filipino community, to let them know 'you're not alone, if you're here, we're going to stand with you; we're going to mourn with you; we're in solidarity with you," said Singh.
The incident hit particularly close to Singh, who was at the festival shortly before the attack.
"I keep on thinking about the kids that I met," said Singh, who visibly choked up and paused several times as he answered questions from media. "The joy - I was there literally minutes before this happened, and I can't stop thinking about how much happiness was there, how it was a family event, people were so positive and so joyful, and then to have such a horrific thing happen, I keep on replaying it."
What was set to be a rally for local NDP candidate Linda Sankey had been turned on its head, as the rally portion was canceled in favour of answering media questions and meeting with the couple hundred supporters who gathered at the Dragon Boat Pub at Penticton's Skaha Lake.
Sankey led the crowd in a moment of silence
Despite the previous night's events, Singh still answered campaign-focused questions, and at one point specifically noted the difficulty in balancing talking about the tragedy and also speaking on topics to encourage people to vote for the party.
He spoke to the need to tackle the divisions that have appeared in Canada by addressing the issues behind them, such as food prices, housing prices, strengthening health care and expanding to include things like mental health care.
His final message to voters was that at the end of the day, it was the public who held the power and that they should be represented in their government.
"We were able to achieve certain things, and we were able to make people's lives better, people acknowledge our hard work to bring in dental care, to bring in pharma care, but none of that would have happened but for people giving us that honour," said Singh.
"I believe that your vote should be reflected in parliament, so if the party gets 20 per cent of the vote, they should have 20 per cent of the seats, and it would give people real power. I think that's the best way to move forward, so we would get rid of some of that division, if we had a system where people were seeing their votes reflected in parliament and the parliament was made up truly with the will of the people."
Singh had also originally been set to join the Vaisakhi parade in Oliver following the campaign event in Penticton, but that plan was cancelled.
