Flanked by federal NDP candidates from around Metro Vancouver, party leader Jagmeet Singh beat the election war drum at the Port Moody Legion Branch 119 Monday morning even as he said certain things should be put in place before the writ is dropped.
Singh told an audience of regional and national media protecting Canadian jobs and workers is paramount as the on-again, off-again, on-again tariffs on Canadian products announced by U.S. President Donald Trump create economic uncertainty.
“We need a plan,” Singh said.
He added elements of such a plan should include a concerted effort to create jobs by building more infrastructure like hospitals, bridges and transit using Canadian workers and materials, bolstering the employment insurance program to ensure benefits will help people who’ve lost their job can continue to pay their mortgage and afford groceries, as well as protections against price gouging.
Singh said a strategy to soften the blow of a trade war with the United States is especially critical in British Columbia where exports of raw materials like softwood lumber and minerals are a cornerstone of the provincial economy.
“We can make sure B.C workers keep working, keep putting food on the table and keep building this great country,” Singh said. “Let’s build, build, build — from hospitals to bridges to the affordable homes we need, and let’s do it using 100 per cent Canadian lumber and other B.C.-grown and B.C.-built products as much as possible.”
Singh also used his platform to call out the new leader of the federal Liberal party, Mark Carney, as well as federal Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre.
He said Carney, who succeeded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a party vote held Sunday, is more committed to cutting taxes for wealthy Canadians and creating more job losses and hardship through cuts to the federal civic service, while Poilievre “will never stand up to Trump.”
But, added Singh, while protecting Canadians from the fallout of a trade war with the U.S. is his party’s top priority, should the new Liberal leader decide to call a spring election, “I’m ready to go tomorrow if that’s what Carney wants. I’m your guy.”
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