Federal NDP leader officially announces run for BC MP seat

BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – It’s official — Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has thrown his hat into the race to become the next MP for Burnaby South.

The Canadian Motion Picture Park in Burnaby was where he chose to make his announcement. Party organizers say the venue provides some 20,000 jobs in BC’S thriving film industry.

Singh is hoping to fill the seat left vacant by Kennedy Stewart, who is stepping down to run for mayor of Vancouver.

In 2015, Stewart narrowly defeated a Liberal candidate in a riding long considered safe for the NDP.

“I ran for the first time ever in Brampton, and people told us that it couldn’t be done,” Singh recalls. “People said that you can’t win in Brampton, there’s never been NDP forever. And we focus in on people, we focus in on issues

Parachuting

Singh, who’s from Brampton, Ontario, has already faced criticism for parachuting into a riding long-considered safe for the New Democrats.

He says he’s committed to the riding, will continue to be if he wins, and will still move to Burnaby-South even if he doesn’t win.

“I’m all in on Burnaby, my wife and I talked about it, and we’re going to run here.”

Some have questioned Singh’s ability to effectively represent the people of Burnaby-South. He says as a national leader, he needs to represent all Canadians — and promises to do so in this community as well.

Singh confident

We’ve known for days that Singh was to announce his bid for the MP seat. He says he’s confident he’ll win a seat in the House of Commons on a promise that helped another federal NDP leader win support across the nation.

Speaking to a large crowd of supporters under a scorching sun, Singh said Tommy Douglas — the father of Medicare — also called Burnaby home.

“And when he won, his dream was to take universal medicare across Canada and he did that — he did that, but his dream was left unfinished.”

It’s no secret housing affordability is also top of mind for British Columbians, and the Ontario native has done his homework.

Singh is vowing to make housing more affordable across the Lower Mainland. He points his finger at the “inaction” taken by different levels of government as the reason the region is in its current situation.

“Now, we have a federal government that’s, again, not really doing anything, a provincial government that is ready and a city that’s talking about the right steps. We’ve got to step out as a
federal government.”

Having been quite vocal about his opposition to the Trans Mountain expansion project, Singh didn’t miss the opportunity to take jabs at the Liberal government’s move to buy the pipeline.

“We’re going to talk about the issues that matter to people, and we’re going to use that platform that I have as a leader to talk about housing, to talk about Pharmacare, to talk about healthcare, to talk about the issues that matter. That we don’t need to be investing billions of public dollars in a 65 year old leaky pipeline. We need to be investing in clean energy jobs for today and tomorrow, these are the issues that we’re going to continue to advance.”

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