John Rafferty says this week’s federal NDP caucus meetings in Saskatoon are all about developing strategy to end Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s tenure atop the House of Commons.
The Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP, who won’t attend because of a minor health issue, said he’s pressing his caucus colleagues to make infrastructure spending a key ingredient in their bid to take over the reins of power in the scheduled 2015 general election.
Small municipalities, like the ones that populate Northwestern Ontario, can’t afford to spend millions on roadways and bridges, but their need is no less important that larger communities in other parts of the province and their larger tax bases.
“Quite frankly, you need to replace bridges and they’re expensive,” Rafferty said Monday.
A veteran of five years in Ottawa, Rafferty said he believes the federal government has a major role to play in the region.
First and foremost he’d like to see the country come to the aid of its veterans and spend money to help Canada’s legions with their infrastructure needs.
“In many places, in Kakabeka (Falls), Fort Frances, Emo and right across Northern Ontario, Legions are the centre of cultural and social activity in many of these communities,” Rafferty said.
“Those are the things that I try to highlight for Northern Ontario.”
Rafferty has also made it clear he wants his party to find funding for larger projects, in particular the city’s proposed $106.1-million event centre, which administration and elected officials have said can’t happen unless both the province and the federal governments come to the table.
“This is not a cost, these are investments that you’re making in Northwestern Ontario. So those are very important.”
While outwardly the party is planning strategy for the fall session of Parliament, undoubtedly election strategy will be front and centre in Saskatoon.
While Harper is the prime target, this time around the NDP have a reinvigorated Liberal party under newly elected leader Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau clearly wants to put the 2011 election disaster that relegated the Liberals to unfamiliar third-party status in the past and the polls can be trusted, he’s made inroads that have partially come at the expense of NDP support.
Rafferty said the NDP can the momentum garnered under late leader Jack Layton in the most recent election, when the traditional also-rans won 59 seats in Quebec en route to official Opposition status in the House of Commons, an NDP first.
Trudeau is a threat, but one who can be overcome, he said.
“The Liberal Party has of course repositioned itself a number of times and their numbers keep getting smaller in the House of Commons,” Rafferty said, adding Trudeau has been a breath of fresh air in the House of Commons.
