By Dale Boyd

Oliver Chronicle

Jagmeet Singh made it clear during his visit to the South Okanagan Thursday he is “running to become prime minister.”

The leader of the federal New Democrat Party was in Penticton with incumbent South Okanagan-West Kooteny MP Richard Cannings prior to the local campaign launch event in Kaleden later that evening.

Being a “kingmaker” in the upcoming federal election, putting enough seats together to form a coalition majority, is a possibility, but Singh quickly refocused the conversation back to his party’s values.

“I can say that if people want to see the healthcare system expanded, they want to see proportional representation brought in for real, if they want to see investments in affordable housing, then having a New Democrat fighting for you is going to make it possible,” Singh said. “I’m running to become prime minister, whatever the new government looks like, the New Democrats are going to fight for these things.”

The South Okanagan-West Kootenay riding has had a New Democrat MP for the past four years, and Cannings defended his time as local representative. He challenged the idea that an NDP government has not had a large impact in the South Okanagan since his election as MP in 2015 — with $100 million spent federally in the riding over the past three years.

“From what I can see it is above average for a riding in Canada. The Liberals are spending more money in their ridings, naturally, it’s what Liberals do, and it is what the Conservatives did, they spent more in their ridings,” Cannings said. “But for an opposition riding I think on the whole, on average, I think it is above average. So you can’t criticize me for not bringing in funding. There has been some projects where I wish we could have brought in more, like the Oliver siphon.”

The Town of Oliver’s siphon repair had the town seeking, and not receiving, federal funding. The project is leaving the municipality in the lurch and town council sorting out worst-case-scenario options. The fix, which could have major impacts to irrigation for agriculture in the area with another rockslide, was one Cannings fought hard for in Ottawa, he said.

Read more: Town council looking at cheaper options for siphon fix

“We did everything possible under the sun to get that forward and it just seemed we were up against this bureaucracy where it didn’t fit the government’s boxes in terms of infrastructure funding. It wasn’t drinking water, it was irrigation water, it wasn’t waste water, it wasn’t a ‘big enough’ disaster,” Cannings said.

The NDP are proposing what Singh called a more comprehensive way to sort out federal infrastructure spending. Singh said the current criteria is too narrow for smaller municipalities.

“We want to make sure infrastructure commitments aren’t just fancy announcements that are impossible to access. It’s not just an Oliver example, I’ve heard the same complaint across Canada, even in Burnaby where I represent as an MP,” Singh said.

Rural communities are at a disadvantage with staff time less bountiful for federal funding applications, Cannings said.

“We have downloaded so much of that spending on these municipalities. We should help them. It would put people to work locally. It will give us infrastructure that will be there for the next 50 years and more,” Cannings said.

David and Goliath

Taking on the big guys, whether that is establishment governments, tech companies, or corporate lobbyists is a recurring theme when talking about nation-wide issues with Singh.

Singh pitched an alternative for Canadians to what polling is framing as a race between the Liberals and Conservatives.

“When you look at their track record, look at their decisions, when push comes to shove, their priorities have always been on the most powerful. SNC-Lavalin is just one proof point. It wasn’t a scandal so much as it was a choice,” Singh said.

Helping out multi-million dollar corporations is a big part of the problem in Ottawa, according to Singh, extending to pharmaceutical companies, and cell phone providers — with Canadians paying some of the highest prices in the world for cellular data.

“These are decisions being made consistently, cutting corporate taxes, which helps out multi-billionaires doesn’t help out families,” Singh said.

Corporate tax cuts professed to create jobs under the Harper government didn’t come to fruition either, Singh said.

“We have the evidence it didn’t actually create job growth. Our difference is, we want people to imagine what would you get if you had a government that was working for people,” Singh said.

“Big money, big pharma, big corporations have an open-door access to Conservative governments, and to Liberal governments. New Democrats have a history pushing back to them and saying no, we’re not going to cave in to lobbyist pressure and we’re going to stand up for Canadians.”

Tech companies have been getting a pass in Canada, along with cell phone service providers, Singh said.

Climate crisis

While Canada is not one of the largest polluters in the world, per capita Canadians produce about three times more greenhouse gas emissions than other nations. Something that is almost besides the point, according to Singh, who wants Canada to have a leadership role in the crisis on the international stage.

“It’s a global problem and if we’re not doing our part, then we can’t encourage the countries that are the biggest polluters. There’s no moral authority, there’s no way for us to convince or persuade anyone if we’re not doing our part,” Singh said.

Cannings said the impact of having Canada as a leader on the international stage should not be downplayed. At a G20 energy summit in Argentina, Cannings said even large producers of carbon emissions globally like China are turning to a new energy future in the renewable sector.

“Canada’s turn (to speak at the summit) came up and Jim Carr says ‘we just bought a pipeline,’ and spent his three minutes trying to justify that,” Cannings said. “I don’t think people understand how important that is for a country like Canada to stand up and say we’re going to change, we’re going to do this.”

The federal election is set for on or before Oct. 21. Cannings campaign launch event takes place around 7 p.m. at Linden Gardens in Kaleden. Tickets are available in person at Dragon’s Den, 12 Front St., Penticton or online at richardcannings2019.ndp.ca. The event takes place from 7 to 9 p.m.