Singh hears housing affordability ideas at NDP retreat, vows focus on Canadians amid Trump talk

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says that while the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency could pose a challenge for Canada, the federal New Democrats intend to stay focused on the pressing domestic issues impacting Canadians today, such as housing affordability.

On the second day of his party’s three-day caucus retreat in Edmonton, where the team of 25 is going over parliamentary priorities, Singh took part in a housing affordability-focused roundtable discussion with local stakeholders where he heard directly from Edmontonians who have a finger on the pulse of the country’s housing crisis.

The conversation came amid Edmonton city council recently declaring an emergency on housing and homelessness and, according to Singh’s office, centred on ways the NDP could push the federal Liberals to advance new measures to bring down the cost of housing and rent nationally.

Among those who participated in the discussion were representatives from community health and non-profit organizations, rural and urban housing groups, and those who have lived experience with homelessness and social housing.

NDP MP for Edmonton Griesbach Blake Desjarlais said that so often in federal policy conversations, the voices with lived experience “go underrepresented.”

“That’s why Jagmeet and the entire federal NDP caucus wanted to come to Edmonton. So many Edmontonians are on the front lines of this crisis, and we want to be able to hear from those who are working on the front lines, who have the solutions, who hear those stories,” he said.

Singh said the Liberals and Conservatives’ market-focused housing policies fall short, and he wants to see more done to adequately address Canada’s low-income, non-profit and co-operative housing needs.

It’s issues like these — and as he heard Tuesday night at a townhall, local residents’ trouble making ends meet, and desire for a national pharmacare program — that the NDP leader has signalled are his chief preoccupations heading into the 2024 political season. 

“What we’re hearing from people is just that it’s so hard, they’re just really so exhausted,” Singh said to the standing-room-only community centre crowd.

“It shouldn’t be this way, and I want you to know Edmontonians, Canadians, it shouldn’t be this hard, and it doesn’t have to be this way… The reason we’re in this position — it’s important to call it out — the reason we’re in this position where things are so hard, is because governments like the Conservatives and the Liberals have made choices, their choices have brought us to this moment.”

Amid an effort from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party to pull Canadians’ focus to American affairs by comparing his main political rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, to the U.S. Republican presidential front-runner, Singh signalled that the embattled former U.S. president is “completely” in a world of his own.

“The things that he has done, the things that he says, the person he is, there is no other comparison to someone who is as bad for democracy, as bad for people, as bad for the planet, as Donald Trump,” he said, speaking to reports at the caucus retreat just ahead of Trump winning the New Hampshire primary.

The NDP leader — angling to make electoral gains in the Edmonton region in the next federal election in part by targeting Conservative ridings — said he’s more interested in referencing the record of past federal Conservative governments to make the case his party can be a trusted vote for change if that’s what they’re looking for.

“Conservatives want to cut and gut the programs that your family needs, make life harder for you. We remember the Harper years,” Singh said. “They made things harder for people and I think that’s what we should focus in on, instead of those comparisons.”

So far, the Conservatives have brushed off the Liberal line of attack as an attempt to change the channel from Canadians’ cost of living concerns, and continue to paint Singh as responsible for keeping Trudeau in power.

In the latest episode of CTV News’ Trend Line, pollster Nik Nanos said that while the Liberals are trying to link Poilievre’s Conservatives to Trump’s Republicans, there are risks to that strategy, noting that Poilievre continues to maintain “a double-digit lead over the Liberals” with his messaging and style of populist politics.