Aisha Jahangir acclaimed as our federal candidate

The Guelph NDP is first out of the gate to select a contestant for the next federal election. The NDP acclaimed Aisha Jahangir, its 2019 candidate, for a second run, at a well-attended virtual meeting on Tuesday evening.

Jahangir, a long-time Guelph south-end resident, is a registered nurse who works at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre. In her address to the meeting, she described the challenges of working on the healthcare front lines during the COVID-19 crisis and said that the biggest factor motivating her to run is the urgent need to strengthen and expand public medicare.  “The pandemic has revealed, more clearly than ever before, the urgent need to bring pharmacare, dentistry, and especially long-term care into the Canada Health Act, so that access is available to everyone, using a Health Card, not a credit card”, says Jahangir. Mental-health care is Jahangir’s specialization, and her work in the correctional system has given her a close-up view of the impacts of social and economic determinants of health.

Questioned about the party’s environmental policies, she said that the Liberal plan to fight climate change by planting trees, while building oil pipelines at the same time, is “not the Green New Deal that we need”.

The Keynote speaker at Tuesday’s meeting was Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, MP, elected in 2019 as the first New Democrat to represent Nunavut since the territory was established. Ms.Qaqqaq gave a great keynote speech and offered us all some great wisdom on how we can help and push for a more fair and equitable Canada.

With a minority government in Ottawa, an election is possible at any time. However, talk of a spring snap election has faded, in light of the chaotic postponement of the provincial election in Newfoundland and Labrador, made necessary by the sudden COVID-19 outbreak there.

“Jagmeet Singh has pledged not to force an election during the pandemic”, said NDP Riding Association President Jordan Lemcke, “but Mr. Trudeau refuses to make the same commitment, so we need to be ready.”

A big thank you to everyone who came on Tuesday it was a fantastic turnout and a great showing of Guelph NDP pride. We at the Guelph NDP thank you all from the bottom of our hearts and with our federal candidate affirmed our push to make Guelph orange has taken a massive step forward.

We look forward to your continued support.

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