By Daryl Major

Nanaimo-Ladysmith MP stunned at U.S. election result

Nov 9, 2016 | 10:17 AM

NANAIMO – Heartsick, shocked and appalled.

Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson isn’t pulling punches when asked to describe Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election.

“To see this played out in such a public way, to have sexist, racist, taunting disabled people. To have Trump do all these things and still have him take the presidency is very worrying to me.”

With so much work done on the Canadian side of the border on inclusion and equity in politics, the Clinton loss could be a setback for women, according to Malcolmson. 

“We’re doing a lot of work to try to encourage women to run for office,” said Malcomson. “To really support and celebrate more diversity in our legislatures and parliaments to then see that there is a huge personal cost for women running for office and they get scrutinized in a different way.”

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Malcolmson says the tactics Trump used on the campaign may be a sign of how he’ll deal with Canada. As an example, she points to trade issues, including the softwood lumber agreement, which still needs to be renegotiated.

“That’s a big concern around jobs in our area,” said Malcolmson. “But our relatively new prime minister is just going to have his hands full around really setting the tone. Standing up more than ever for Canadian interests. Standing up to the president if he’s proposing actions that are going to be bad for our country.”

Malcolmson is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reinforce Canadian values of inclusion, equity and fairness in future dealings with the Trump White House.