MP Wayne Stetski hosted a meet and greet with the leader of the federal New Democratic party Jagmeet Singh at the Downtowner Motor Inn on Friday night as part of a back to back tour of the Kootenays that started in Cranbrook.
“I want Jagmeet to hear directly from as many Creston Valley residents as possible in terms of what the priority should be for the party and for me,” said Stetski.
Singh answered questions and listened to the concerns of Creston Valley residents for an hour and a half addressing issues on healthcare, housing, and agriculture.
“As a leader, I really wanted to make it part of my commitment to spend as much time as possible in as many ridings as possible to really understand what people are going through and what some of the problems people are facing. One of the things that has come up consistently is housing. It’s a commitment I have to push for better solutions around housing, making sure that people have the ability to find a place to call home.” said Singh.
“Another big theme of this tour has been agriculture, Creston Valley is well known for its agriculture, and I want folks to know I am a fierce defender of supply management. I believe that we need to have policies that protect and support farmers and we need to expand our protections. Not just supply management, we have to look at other ways to encourage local food and support local producers because the ability to produce food in the country is a part of our sovereignty and shows we are able to feed our nation and the only way do that is to support our agriculture.”
When asked what Singh thought of the turn out for the meet and greet he said: “The turn out was great tonight and we had a great conversation.”
Singh continued his Kootenay tour to Nelson on Saturday.
editor@crestonvalleyadvance.ca
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