“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.

Singh said the RCMP did not say where the threats to his life came from but the “implication” was they originated from a foreign government.