Singh makes campaign-style stop in city
NDP leader promises investments for health care, jobs for energy workers
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh made a brief stop in Calgary on Saturday as talk of a fall election continues to heat up.
Singh, in the midst of a three-day tour of Alberta, visited a pancake breakfast and beer garden in the East Village to meet, take selfies and talk with people in attendance.
Speaking to media at the event, he said he has heard from Albertans worried about getting good jobs. He also said he has heard concerns about potential healthcare cuts by the provincial United Conservative Party, which has proposed nurses take a three per cent wage rollback.
“I know another big concern here in Alberta is the cuts to health care, people are really worried about that . . . talking about how afraid they are that in a pandemic, there are cuts to nurses,” said Singh.
Singh said his party would invest in health care, noting he has pushed for a national pharmacare plan. He also said he wants dental care to be included in services that are paid for publicly.
“We don't want to see our healthcare system cut, we want to see investments, we want to expand it,” said Singh. “We're fighting to improve health care, with federal transfers, to give people that support.”
Singh is the third federal party leader to visit Alberta's largest city in the past month.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a stop during a trip through Western Canada to announce his government was approving the city's Green Line LRT project.
Trudeau's stops in Alberta and British Columbia fuelled speculation he is eyeing an election in the near future, however the prime minister has denied the rumours.
The following week, Conservative party leader Erin O'toole stopped at a pancake breakfast in northeast Calgary to promote a message that he would be an ally to western Canadians, saying Trudeau's time in power has led to a fracturing of unity in Canada.
During his stop Saturday, Singh said he would prefer federal politicians get back to work to help people rather than hit the campaign trail. However, he said his party will be ready if the writ is
dropped and he believes the NDP is in a good position to gain more seats in the House of Commons.
The NDP currently holds one seat in Alberta, Edmonton-strathcona. Singh said he believes the province is ready for a shift and believes he can gain support in the province.
Singh also said Saturday he is focused on diversifying the economy.
He said workers in Alberta's energy sector need good jobs now and that there will be infrastructure
investments that will help get them to work.
“We can always listen to workers and listen to what their worries are and think of a plan to create jobs, not in the distant future but right now,” said Singh. “There's gonna be a lot of money spent on infrastructure, those infrastructure jobs are jobs that a lot of the resource sector workers have skills (for), and we'll talk about retrofitting buildings, remediating oil wells, converting oil wells into geothermal energy.”