Please tell our readers three policies you would champion as NDP leader.
Throughout this campaign, I’ve been putting forward ambitious, practical ideas that we can deliver when we rebuild our party and elect more New Democrats.
Here are three of the priorities I’ve already announced:
A National Housing Emergency Plan:
Housing is a human right. Under my leadership, we would take on corporate profiteering in the housing market, ban REITs that drive up costs, and make the largest public investment in non-market housing in a generation. We can end homelessness. We can protect renters and people with mortgages. And we can ensure that communities ignored by the private market aren’t left behind.
My youth jobs plan is based on three pillars.
- Year-round, paid community work placements – including apprenticeships, certification, or mentorships – in all areas. From climate and energy and skilled trades to the care economy and community infrastructure.
- Eliminate tuition fees and extend the Canada Student Grant to apprentices, trades, and certificate programs – not just university – and support and respect Indigenous-led training.
- Connect young workers with unions, small businesses, and experienced tradespeople to create real pathways to good, unionized jobs.
We’ll create good-paying jobs while also protecting the environment. We’ll do this by investing in climate adaptation and nature, supporting green transit in municipalities, and putting communities first. We’ll end oil and gas subsidies and help families and communities meet their climate goals.
Which Carney government legislative initiatives would you change, if you could, and in what way?
I am concerned about the Major Projects Office legislation. Federal law must fully respect the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples. That is a legal and moral obligation.
We also need to reconsider what qualifies as being in the public interest. Public dollars should prioritize healthcare, housing, climate resilience, and community infrastructure. They should not be used to subsidize private corporations or projects that fail to deliver lasting public benefit.
On housing, the current approach does not meet the urgency of the crisis. Too much protection is extended to corporate landlords and financialized housing. The funding is drastically too low. What the Liberals promised was insufficient, and this budget offers only half of that insufficient promise. Worse, not enough is directed toward renters, first-time buyers, and communities facing severe shortages. Declaring a national housing emergency would free up resources and federal powers to take quicker action. We need a housing strategy that puts people first and treats homes as places to live, not assets to trade.
How would you combat separatism in Quebec and Alberta?
I am a proud Albertan and a proud Canadian.
In Alberta, separatism is being treated like a serious option. Premier Danielle Smith has floated a referendum. Some are even talking about aligning with the United States under Donald Trump.
That is reckless and dangerous.
Western alienation is real. But you do not solve alienation by breaking up the country. You solve it by building a Canada that works for people in every region.
In Quebec, sovereignty has a long history. In Alberta today, separatism is being fueled by opportunism and misinformation. At a time when our sovereignty faces real pressure, leaders must be unequivocal.
Jack Layton understood that you respect Quebec’s identity, language, and culture while strengthening Canada as a whole. I understand Alberta’s frustration because I have lived it. Respecting regional realities and defending national unity are not contradictions. They are responsibilities.
Separation would threaten pensions, healthcare, treaty rights, trade, and jobs. People deserve the truth about the consequences.
Canada is not perfect. But it is worth defending.
We combat separatism by strengthening public services, respecting provinces as partners, honouring First Nations, Inuit and Métis rights, and ensuring people see a future here.
I will always stand for a united Canada that works for Alberta, for Quebec, and for everyone.
What would your conditions be for supporting a Liberal minority government?
New Democrats do not exist to keep Liberals in office. We exist to improve people’s lives.
If a minority government wants support, it has to deliver real gains for people. That means defending public healthcare from privatization, building non-market housing at scale, implementing tax fairness including a wealth tax, advancing reconciliation in partnership with Indigenous peoples, and taking serious climate action that creates good jobs.
I voted against the budget because it did not meet the urgency of the housing crisis, the pressure on healthcare, or the cost-of-living challenges families are facing.
I am deeply proud of the gains that our party was able to extract in the last parliament. Federal, anti-scab legislation improves the strength of organized labour for workers across the country, and even without being fully implemented or universal, national dental care and pharmacare is already saving and changing lives. But support is not automatic. It must be earned. If legislation makes life more affordable and strengthens public services, we would work with it. If it protects corporate profits over people, we would oppose it.
If you were in charge of Canada-U.S. relations, what would your strategy be for dealing with the Trump administration?
The current government’s attempts to appease Donald Trump are not working. Scrapping the Digital Services Tax – a tax on massive multinational corporations – was one of many mistakes. Negotiations with the current American administration do not follow the old rules. Trump has shown how quickly norms can erode and how transactional politics can become.
Canada’s best defense is strength at home.
We need to build our own economic sovereignty by investing in Canadian workers, Canadian supply chains, and unionized Canadian jobs. We need to diversify trade, starting with better inter-provincial trade, so we can reduce our dependence on the United States. And we need to stand firmly for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
We negotiate firmly, but we also need to reduce our vulnerability. The stronger our public institutions and domestic economy, the less exposed we are to political instability elsewhere.
What steps would you take to decrease growing economic inequality in Canada?
We can’t keep pretending that catering to the richest people will fix our problems. Inequality is not an accident. It is the result of governments choosing to protect wealth at the top instead of security for everyone else.
The policy of protecting soaring profits while allowing wages to stagnate or drop is a clear and tragic failure.
Under my leadership, we would scrap all subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and we would implement a wealth tax and an excess profits tax so that those who have benefited the most contribute more. That revenue would fund public healthcare, affordable housing, and climate action that creates jobs.
We would close tax loopholes, strengthen enforcement against offshore tax avoidance, and ensure the Canada Revenue Agency focuses on large corporations and the ultra-wealthy, not working families.
Economic fairness is not radical. It is responsible.
What measures are necessary to empower Indigenous communities in Canada and assure their prosperity?
Reconciliation requires action, not symbolism.
That starts within our own party. We need to do more to invite and welcome Indigenous participation in all parts of our party.
Across the country, First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders have been clear. They need stable, long-term funding. They need full implementation of treaty and inherent rights. They need the federal government to honour free, prior and informed consent in both law and practice.
Prosperity comes from self-determination. That means predictable funding, revenue sharing, housing investments, infrastructure, and respect for Indigenous jurisdiction.
The path has been laid out. We have the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the list goes on. We know the steps that need to be taken. We can’t allow further delay in moving forward.
