www.kamloopsthisweek.com
THURSDAY, February 20, 2014
A5
LOCAL NEWS NDP LEADER THOMAS MULCAIR COMES TO KAMLOOPS IN CAMPAIGN MODE
‘We have to be able to stop Stephen Harper’ By Christopher Foulds KTW EDITOR
editor@kamloopsthisweek.com
The next federal election is set for Oct. 19, 2015, but NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair’s visit to Kamloops this week made it clear the Official Opposition is officially in campaign mode. Mulcair attracted a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 to St. Andrews on the Square for his energetic appearance on Tuesday night (Feb. 18), which featured a 10-minute speech, followed by a 50-minute question-and-answer segment. Mulcair’s NDP has 100 seats in the House of Commons — 60 less than the Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and 64 more than Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. The man who succeeded the late Jack Layton in March 2012 made it clear his goal is to oust Harper from the Prime Minister’s Office while holding Trudeau at bay and not pursuing a centre-left
coalition. “Trudeau said if we work together, we could end up with Tom Mulcair as prime minister,” he said. “Here’s my priority — getting rid of Stephen Harper as prime minister. “I’d love to be able to do that with the other party [Liberals]. More often than not, he’s [Trudeau] not there. He’s out giving speeches and getting paid for them.” While Mulcair made sure to include the Liberal leader in his criticism, the bulk of his political arsenal was, naturally, reserved for Harper and the governing Conservatives. Changes to immigration laws; changes to the Election Act; corporations not paying their fair share; the closures of aid offices; election-campaign shenanigans; changes in health-care funding; loss of Canada’s reputation on the international stage; and an anti-knowledge, antiscience, anti-fact agenda — Mulcair cited all these Conservative
City of Kamloops
Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair spoke to more than 100 NDP supporters at St. Andrews on the Square on Tuesday, Feb. 19, with his message being the party must defeat the Conservatives while holding the Liberals at bay. Christopher Foulds/KTW
actions and more in his argument for why voters need to consider the NDP in the next election. Those voters, though, need to show up, and that’s the chal-
Let’s Ta!k
lenge facing the New Democrats. Mulcair noted his biggest concern is the dearth of young voters. “When young people stay home, the
WWW.ROSMANRV.COM
ONLINE RV SALE
2014 BUDGET
FEB. 20-27TH
Putting It All Together
Meetings in the fall discussed basic service levels; now we want to hear from you, the taxpayer, on proposed additional requests to the budget. Follow along and contribute to the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #kamloopsbudget. All documents to support the budget meeting are available online at www.kamloops.ca/2014budget.
Meeting Schedule Tuesday, February 25, 2014 7:00 - 10:00 pm Interior Savings Centre Parkside Lounge
BEST DEALS OF THE YEAR, TRADES WELCOME! DL# 8122
The City of Kamloops has made budget meetings more personal with a chance to speak one-on-one with City Council and staff. This format continues to work well and we invite you to be a part of these discussions.
right wing wins and democracy loses,” he said. “Everything flows from this: We have to be able to stop Stephen Harper from changing the rules of
democracy so he can cheat his way to victory in the next election. “Stephen Harper is the first prime minister in Canadian history who thinks he is the master of Parliament. He does not think he is a servant of Parliament.” Mulcair also touched on other issues: • On the proposed Ajax mine in Kamloops, Mulcair said then-environment minister Peter Kent was a failure, noting the NDP would have required a joint panel review of the project; • As prime minister, Mulcair would have Canada attend the 2015 Paris climate conference, where a new international climate-change agree-
ment will be pursued; • The NDP would abolish the Senate, with Mulcair calling the $100-million per year institution “irreparably broken”; • Proportional representation will be a major idea the NDP will present to voters in the next election campaign, though Mulcair said there must be support from the public for it to be advanced; • An NDP government will ensure loans, grants and bursaries are available so cost is not a barrier to post-secondary education; • An NDP government will pursue a national child-care policy. Mulcair pointed to Quebec’s $7 per day system. “Despite what it costs, it actually puts more into the economy than what it costs,” he told the crowd; • ATM fees, payday-loan gouging, credit-card interest rates and the practise of gas-pricing at the pumps need to be investigated.
1-800-811-8733 250-545-2319 • 6395 HWY 97N VERNON