TIMMINS - For Nicole Fortier Levesque, the NDP's northern platform confirms that the region is being taken into consideration.
The NDP candidate for the new riding of Kapuskasing-Timmins-Mushkegowuk stood alongside NDP leader Jagmeet Singh as he unveiled the party's plan for Northern Ontario.
It focuses on health care, roads, and the cost of living.
“I’m not surprised because I know that NDP works for the people, we work for you and having Jagmeet talking about the northern platform confirms what we are ready to do to make sure that the north is taken into consideration,” said Fortier Levesque after the announcement.
Highlights of the platform are training more doctors in the north and investing in regional medical schools, making grocery prices more transparent and fixing Nutrition North so the subsidies don't go to corporations, building all-season roads for remote communities that choose year-round access, and twinning Highways 11 and 17.
When it comes to critical minerals and the Ring of Fire, Singh said it can only happen if the right infrastructure is in place.
"So roads to connect communities, roads and infrastructure so that communities can actually … be able to extract the minerals and move them around. We also know that none of this can happen unless we work in collaboration with Indigenous communities,” he said.
This is the first election with the new redrawn riding boundaries, which saw Northern Ontario lose a Member of Parliament (MP) seat. Two veteran NDP politicians have also retired — Charlie Angus and Carol Hughes.
The party is ready to continue their fight, he said.
“We know for a long time people in the North have seen what you get with a New Democrat. When you have someone like Carol Hughes and like Charlie Angus, you get fighters that stand up for the North, that fight for the North and that deliver for the North," he said.
Singh is on a two-day tour of Northern Ontario. He held a rally at Full Beard Brewing on Saturday, and today has made stops at the Northern College Powwow (see video below) and the Sikh Sangat.
The federal election is on April 28.