THUNDER BAY - From clean drinking water for Indigenous communities, jobs in the north, to affordable living, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said his party’s platform will put people first, including those living in Northern Ontario.
Singh made a campaign stop in Thunder Bay Friday evening and spoke in front of hundreds of supporters at the Study Coffeehouse at Lakehead University.
After a brief campaign speech vowing to reduce barriers on education by forgiving interest on student loans and offering free tuition, increasing access to health care for all Canadians, as well as ensuring the wealthiest in the country pay their fair share, Singh took questions from media and addressed local issues.
When asked about boil water advisories in Indigenous communities, Singh said he would not accept any excuses from previous governments on why this issue has not been addressed.
“I believe we need to immediately move to address the injustice that has been happening across this country, particularly in Northern Ontario, immediately ensure that everyone, every Indigenous person has access to clean drinking water,” Singh said. “I don’t accept any excuse that says otherwise. I know it can be done. We will get it done.”
Singh also addressed the East-West Tie energy connection and said one of the commitments in his party’s climate bank, which will be funded with a $3 billion investment, is to make sure clean energy produced in Manitoba, B.C., and Quebec, will be connected to the rest of Canada.
“We also want to make sure with any project that there has to be a community benefit and it has to speak to Indigenous communities as equal partners, not as a top down approach, as equal partners, nation to nation, we have to build that kind of relationship,” he said.
Earlier this summer, Singh was in Thunder Bay following the announcement of more than 500 layoffs at the local Bombardier plant.
While he was in the city meeting with workers, he announced the NDP would make changes to policies involving Canadian content regulations and he once again announced his party’s intention to ensure that takes place to protect Canadian jobs.
“One of the things we are not doing is Canadian content,” he said. “I made an announcement at the Bombardier worksite and said a New Democratic Party will use money for procurement that requires Canadian content.”
Singh once against used the example of a VIA Rail contract going to a German based company.
“I think that’s wrong that we are spending public money on public procurement for something that we own, not on supporting Canadian manufacturers,” he said. “This is a clear example of how we can create Canadian jobs by requiring that if we are spending our own money, there has to be a procurement process that requires Canadian content.”
Singh added that the NDP will also invest more money in public transportation as part of it’s plan to tackle climate change.
“We need to tackle the climate crisis, one of the ways we can do that is by investing massively in public transit,” he said. “Our commitment at the federal level is to invest massively in electrifying public transit and building public transit. That will create jobs for Bombardier.”
As for Northern Ontario’s need to attract more immigrants to the region, Singh said the NDP’s new deal for Northern Ontario makes sure that the opportunities that exist in the region are connected to new people arriving in the country.
“There are great opportunities here. We’ve got plans to make investments in the north,” he said. “We want to invest in making sure people have an opportunity to live and grow and expand our country. There is a way to make sure we connect the people who come to Canada with the opportunities and that hasn’t been done and we are making a commitment to making that happen.”
