1) Whether it’s groceries, gas or rent — the cost of living continues to be a challenge for many Canadians. How can the federal government make life more affordable?
The cost of living is out of control, there is no doubt about that. While I support the end of the personal carbon tax, as we are opposed to all flat taxes, that isn’t going to be enough. We want to take the GST flat tax off of essential items such as groceries, home heating, cell phone bills. In addition, we all know that grocery prices have risen beyond supply chain demands. Prices have been gouged, and an NDP government is committed to putting a stop to this through price controls on necessary items.
Our tax plan is also part of this. Under the Liberal and Conservative tax plans, Galen Weston will get a bigger tax cut than you and I. Carney and the Conservatives both want to keep taxes that effect the wealthy low. I think wealthy corporations and CEOs have had quite enough tax breaks! An NDP government will lower taxes for the middle and working classes, and raise taxes for the billionaires. That money will go directly into pharmacare, dental care, and other desperately needed programs.
2) Home ownership continues to be inaccessible for many, especially younger Canadians. What actions can the federal government take to help?
What we need is a Housing Initiative 2.0. Thirty years ago, the Liberals and Conservatives voted to “get government out of housing” and leave it to the private market. Under the Harper government Housing Minister Pierre Poilievre oversaw the sale of 800 000 affordable homes to private interests. This has to stop. An NDP government will halt any further sales of affordable land to corporate landlords.
We need an affordable option. Houses sold at cost instead of for profit. To do this, the NDP proposes to construct 3 million affordable houses by 2030. We will do this with a 16 billion dollar investment in Canadian lumber, Canadian metal, and Canadian workers. By investing directly in housing construction, we can create good, unionized construction jobs, promote timber and metalworks with unionized labour, and build affordable houses which will cool and drive down the cost of houses. This requires prioritizing average Canadians over the interests of corporations, and the NDP is the party prepared to do that.
For those who are saving while renting, we intend to help them too. Rent controls, public option rent controlled units, and end to exploitative renovictions are long overdue.
3) How would you approach the current trade tensions between Canada and the United States?
I would approach it as an opportunity. Let’s be clear, what we are seeing is the most significant trade event since World War II. Our entire system needs to be reassessed. I believe that for too long we have been reliant on trade with the United States, and successive Liberal and Conservative governments have allowed American industries to exploit Canada’s vast resources. Now, we can begin to change that. We are long overdue to infrastructural development. I see this moment as a chance to invest in a Canadian New Deal. To create new Canadian infrastructure by creating jobs for Canadians. To build the factories and refineries to finish our own resources. We will do this with union labour and, whenever necessary, nationalized industries. This infrastructure program, if implemented with a worker’s first approach, could stand to create high paying, unionized jobs; raising the standard of living for Canadians while also empowering us to be more self-reliant. I believe this ambitious project could be tied to a reform of inter-provincial trade barriers, allowing the new Canadian economy to rely on its fellow Canadians, not US manufacturing and consumption.
4) How can we strengthen the Canadian economy?
The secret to strengthening every economy is investment. For every dollar the government spends on infrastructure, it can draw up to three in revenue. This is because the most important thing about an economy is that people are spending money, but folks can only spend money if they have it. For years, the Liberals and Conservatives have cut taxes for corporations and CEOs at our expense. Where has it brought us? Housing costs have doubled in ten years, the cost of living is out of control. Average Canadians are poorer than ever. The billionaires? Their income has effectively tripled in that time. We need a New Deal. We need a government that isn’t afraid to raise taxes on the rich instead of the rest. We need to use that money to invest in high paying jobs and important services so average Canadians can finally catch a break. We need to put that money back in the pockets of average Canadians. Folks who will actually spend that money and put it back in the economy, instead of offshoring it to a bank account in the Cayman Iles. Its time to invest in us again, not the CEOs.
5) What needs to change with Canada’s criminal justice system?
We find the Conservative “three strike” proposal disturbing. Such a policy was attempted in the early 2000s in several US states. The results were unmitigated disasters, with incarceration rates exploding and rates of crime climbing unabated. The justice system is not baseball, it is not a game. Crime must be prevented at the root, and this means risk factor prevention programs, which is why the NDP supports investing in youth intervention and community programs. These programs encourage youth community engagement, and give young people the tools they need. While the Conservatives talk about being harsh on crime, they aren’t very harsh on white collar crime. The Harper-Poilievre cuts to the RCMP made money laundering in Canada easier than ever. We worked to bring those jobs back and punish white collar crime. When Mark Carney offshored 3.1 billion dollars for Brookfield in 2021, it was perfectly legal to do so. We want to change our legal code so it is no longer possible. That revenue belongs in the hands of the people. To do this, we are committed to ending tax agreements with offshore tax havens in the Bermuda, and require corporations to provide an acceptable reason for offshoring their finances.
6) Would you prefer reducing or increasing federal government spending?
We are in favour of increasing government spending, as are the Liberals and Conservatives. The difference between us and them is how we intend to spend. Liberals and Conservatives have in their previous administrations spent our budgets on pork barrel subsidies for corporations and tax cuts for the wealthy. Canadians have seen their government services decline, with little to no support to replace it. This has only resulted in greater financial insecurity for average Canadians. The NDP opposes tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the rest. We believe in using finances to create good, well paying jobs, especially in expanding our infrastructure to meet the threat of US tariffs. We support expanding vitally needed services such as healthcare in order to make sure every family has a doctor. Historically, economies require direct investment in order to recover, and when government tax the rich to aid the rest, standards of living have been dramatically higher. We want to spend to build a better Canada.
7) What policies do you support to reduce emissions?
Our party is deeply concerned about the growing climate crisis. year over year, we are seeing bigger storms, smaller crops, and greater disasters such as forest fires. The Conservatives have no plan to address this climate emergency. The Liberals have little better to offer, their solution of a carbon tax put the onus of solving the crisis on working people, not the major polluters who are primarily responsible. Our environmental plan will support a carbon tax on polluting corporations only, not people. We will end pork barrel subsidies to oil and gas corporations. We will invest in home retrofitting, which will make our homes more environmentally sustainable and reduce energy bills. Above all, we intend to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in order to expand our clean energy infrastructure, build environmentally sustainable and affordable homes. By putting money into a Green New Deal, we can build a stronger and more climate friendly Canada.
8) The current government banned a number of firearms over its last two terms with mixed reaction from Canadians. Would you keep or expand the gun ban, or remove it?
We recognize the rights of hunters, farmers and target shooters. We do not support the banning of hunting rifles. We firmly support the application of red flag laws especially in instance of domestic violence. We believe that no individual under investigation for domestic violence should have access to firearms. The majority of firearms used in criminal offences are illegally imported from the USA. Despite this the conservatives cut 1,100 jobs from the CBSA the Liberals have failed to rectify this and our border remains dangerously open to illegal firearms smuggling. We will move to reinstate these border officers.
