Election 2019: Horgan earns high praise from federal NDP leader Singh
Credit to Author: Nick Eagland| Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2019 04:49:59 +0000
People need to look no further than B.C. Premier John Horgan to see what an NDP government can accomplish, said Jagmeet Singh on Tuesday as he arrived in B.C. for the first time since the 42nd Parliament was dissolved.
“I actually point to Mr. Horgan often, saying, look, this is what you get if you vote for New Democrats,” the federal NDP leader told an editorial board meeting of The Vancouver Sun and Province. “You get a premier who follows through on commitments and delivers things that he promises, and makes sure that people’s lives improve.”
Singh admitted that he hadn’t spoken with Horgan in “a couple” of months but stressed that the two have a good relationship. Their teams stay in close touch and Singh said he’s had local NDP MLAs campaign for him in the Burnaby South riding that he first won in a February byelection.
But Singh said he has not personally reached out to Horgan for an endorsement.
Singh and Horgan share many of the same views, including their concerns over the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Singh said he never would have bought the Trans Mountain pipeline and would have to decide how to proceed with it upon forming government.
“I’d have to look at what is the asset that we have, what is its valuation, what can be done with it,” Singh said.
“I don’t know those details because I’m not privy to them, but I can tell you what I certainly wouldn’t do is expand it.”
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was in Vancouver on Tuesday for the first time since the start of the election.
His main concerns with the pipeline are how a spill would impact the coastline and jobs, flawed assessments of increased tanker traffic and environmental risk, an inadequate spill response, the rights of Indigenous communities, and having a project based on exportation, he said.
One area they don’t agree on is the $40-billion liquefied natural gas project in Kitimat. Singh said he supports the B.C. government’s climate change work but at the federal level doesn’t want any more public funding going to fossil fuel energy.
“I want to end fossil fuel subsidies because I want to invest in clean energy for the future,” Singh said.
Singh stressed encouraging Canadians to decrease their carbon footprint, including through his proposal of a $15,000 rebate for electric vehicles made in Canada.
Singh, who is scheduled to meet with Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, a former NDP MP, on Wednesday, would declare a national public-health emergency over the overdose crisis, support the introduction of a safe supply of drugs, and funding for addiction and mental-health treatment while acknowledging that addiction is a health care and social-justice issue.
Singh attended a town-hall meeting in his Burnaby South riding on Tuesday evening. Ironically, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was in the riding on Tuesday morning to make an announcement on cutting carbon emissions.
Trudeau was scheduled to call Singh Tuesday afternoon to discuss his use of racist blackface and brownface decades ago. That call, Singh said, would remain a private conversation.
Singh, who arrived in Vancouver after spending the morning in Winnipeg, said Tuesday he wanted to introduce policy to repair an economy “rigged” to benefit the richest while hurting the working class and poor.
“I want to close tax loopholes and end offshore tax havens, and ask the wealthiest to pay a little bit more so we can invest in people by expanding health care through Pharmacare for all, a dental care program to cover 4.3 million Canadians who can’t afford their dental services, and then tackle the climate crisis in a way that invests in people, creates jobs and does our part to reduce our emissions,” Singh said.
Building more affordable housing, a major concern for British Columbians, is also on his to-do list. Singh has promised to supply 500,000 units over a decade, compared to the Liberals’ promise to build 100,000 and repair another 300,000.
Singh said it is a matter of making housing a priority. While the Conservatives and Liberals have spent billions on corporate subsidies, they have forced regular Canadians to wait for housing funding, he said.
An NDP government would put money into co-ops, create GST waivers to incentivize private development of affordable housing, and develop a program to support first-time home buyers, he said.
Singh acknowledged that 500,000 units of affordable housing would be a “significant, bold cost,” but said he could increase revenue by closing loopholes for offshore tax havens and CEO stock options, and by implementing a “super wealth tax” of one per cent on wealth over $20 million, which the parliamentary budgetary officer has said could generate $70 billion over the next decade.
He would support a federal tax on speculation and would call a national inquiry into money laundering, too, he said.
Singh also said that while B.C. rejected proportional representation during a referendum last year, he would skip a referendum federally and replace first-past-the-post with a mixed-member proportional representation system.
“It’s one of those things where people need to see it,” he said.