Five candidates are vying for the seat representing Nanaimo-Ladysmith in Ottawa. (Wikimedia Commons)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

VOTE 2021

Election 2021: Local issues most pressing to Nanaimo-Ladysmith candidates

Sep 7, 2021 | 4:10 PM

NANAIMO — Canadians will head back to the polls on Sept. 20 to elect a new federal government. It will also mark the third vote in just over two years for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding following the Spring 2019 by-election and Fall 2019 general election.

NanaimoNewsNOW asked all five candidates in the riding a series of questions to gauge how they will approach their position as a Member of Parliament for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding.

Candidate responses are listed in alphabetical order by last name and were limited to 200 words of less. Responses are posted here, edited only for page formatting and word count where noted.

Question 1: What specific Nanaimo-Ladysmith issue are you most passionate about advocating for in Ottawa?

Lisa Marie Barron (NDP): I think the better question is what are the problems facing our communities and the people who live here. People here are looking for an MP who listens and then takes action. I have issues that are important to me, but I want to be clear that community representation is just that – working for our communities’ future, not picking and choosing particular issues.

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We need strong climate action now – and Jagmeet Singh has a plan that will cut emissions by at least 50% by 2030, and eliminate the subsidies to Big Oil that the Trudeau Liberals have actually increased. That money will be redirected to the clean energy sector, creating hundreds of thousands of new clean jobs.

Jagmeet Singh and I will work urgently to ease the housing crisis, bringing a realistic housing plan that will build 500,000 homes people can afford, help bring prices down by taking on speculators with a Foreign Buyers tax, and bring rental assistance for renters.

My third community priority is to end the damage done by the opioid crisis. There’s no question that solutions will only come with all three levels of government working together with community-based organizations– but federal leadership is needed.

Michelle Corfield (LIB): I have been raised and educated here during my life, raised two kids who went to school here and chosen to work here. This has given me a perspective of watching how Nanaimo-Ladysmith has grown in the past 50 years. We are at a critical point where we have an increase in seniors who need the health infrastructure here, not Victoria or Vancouver. We have a severe homeless and addictions problem in our City core – we need solutions. Just in the past 15 years, Nanaimo-Ladysmith has not had a results-driven MP with the sitting government that has effectively represented the constituents in Ottawa. The voters, and quite honestly, the eligible voters who have not voted in past elections, have chosen MP’s to go to Ottawa that doesn’t have any political influence to ensure Nanaimo-Ladysmith receives its fair share of capital investments, promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise.

Tamara Kronis (CON): The cost of everything is rising – grocery bills are up five percent and gas prices have skyrocketed. With inflation the highest in 20 years and rising, families are struggling to make ends meet.

The Conservatives have Canada’s Recovery Plan to get inflation under control, lower prices, and make life more affordable.

– Lowering food prices by increasing the maximum fine for price-fixing from $24 million to $100 million; introducing criminal penalties, including jail times, for executives convicted of price-fixing; and, bringing in a tough code of conduct to protect suppliers and promote grocery competition.
– Bringing in legislation on open banking so that Canadians can connect with financial technology companies that can provide a better offer for banking services such as a mortgage, line of credit, or credit card.
– Ordering the Competition Bureau to investigate bank fees.
– Requiring more transparency for investment management fees so that seniors and savers don’t get ripped off, including requiring the banks to show investment returns net of fees.
– Giving our competition laws teeth to prevent a few big companies from dominating and pushing up prices.
– Standing up to corporate Canada and rejecting mergers that substantially reduce competition and lead to layoffs and higher prices.

(i) Paul Manly (GRN): Housing affordability and increasing homelessness are pressing concerns in our community. Inflated home prices are driving longtime residents out of our communities and away from their families. Skyrocketing rents have pushed hundreds of people into homelessness and thousands more to the brink.

While there are people who are visibly homeless in our communities, the majority of people experiencing homelessness in Nanaimo-Ladysmith are invisible to the broader community. These are people living in cars, at campsites, or moving between temporary stays.

Housing affordability problems touch the lives of almost all members of our communities. In February of this year I put forward Motion M-66 in parliament, which addresses the root causes of the housing affordability crisis. In that motion I emphasize that we cannot build our way out of this crisis. Yes, we need to build more affordable housing. And yes, we need to protect existing affordable housing. But fixing the root of the problem requires stronger regulation against predatory investment, tax evasion and money laundering. Canadians seeking to buy a home should not be forced to compete against corporate investors. I was pleased to see parts of Motion M-66 adopted into the platforms of other parties.

Stephen Welton (PPC): The most pressing issues facing the people of Nanaimo-Ladysmith and for all Canadians are centred around our rights and freedoms. We in the PPC are committed to ensuring the freedom to choose whether or not to be vaccinated, the freedom to choose for our young children whether they will be vaccinated, and we are absolutely against the reprehensible notion of vaccine- or health-passports. We will protect rights and freedoms so the people of Nanaimo-Ladysmith can get back to their regular lives without fear of losing their jobs over health mandates or being excluded from regular society because of their belief in medical privacy.

Beyond that, the PPC will address the financial concerns of Canadians by balancing the budget and taking steps that will reduce the cost of housing.

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NanaimoNewsNOW is permitting candidates to edit their responses up to 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021.

For full election coverage, visit our Federal Election 2021 page.

Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.

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