Who is Alistair?
“The Cowichan Valley has been my home for 35 years, and I’m now raising my family here on a small farming property. I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Victoria and my master’s degree from Royal Roads University. During my time at university,” he says. “I had employment as a tree planter and a mill worker. It has been a huge honour serving as the Member of Parliament for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford since 2015, having been re-elected in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
“I’ve served as the NDP Caucus Chair, Critics for Justice, Public Safety, Food Price Inflation and Agriculture and Agri-Food. I was also the Vice-Chair of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. During my time in the House of Commons, I’ve been the proud sponsor of several bills, including a national soil conservation strategy, a national brain injury strategy, and a national food cooperative strategy.”
What are you hearing at the door?
“I am out with my team knocking on doors every day and we hear many things, but by far, what we are hearing the most is concern over the potential impacts of the decisions being made by President Trump. Beneath the anxiety and fear of what an extended trade war could bring, there is also a growing resolve to support Canadian workers, businesses, and industries,” he says.
“As the incumbent, I have also noticed a lot of familiarity among voters with my track record as their MP, and in this uncertain environment I think they are looking for a federal representative with the experience to be able to get to work right away.
“The other issues that come up repeatedly are concerns about the possibility of a Poilievre-led Conservative government that takes its cues from Trump’s politics, the cost of living, housing, and healthcare. As New Democrats, we’ve been able to take on Conservatives and win here on Vancouver Island, and we’ve been able to deliver some real wins for working families on these issues.”
The Issues: Tariffs, Housing and Inter-Provincial Trade
Tariffs:
“Like many in our communities, I have felt betrayed by a country that was supposed to be one of our closest friends and allies. We must fight back using every tool that we can, ensuring workers, industry, and small businesses are looked after in every part of our country, but underneath is a growing resolve and desire to support Canadian workers, industries, and small businesses,” he says.
“With nine years’ experience of serving my constituents I, along with my NDP colleagues, will defend Canadian workers and businesses by implementing a federal Buy Canadian, Build Canadian policy, and bringing together all levels of government, industry, and business to develop a National Industrial Strategy aimed at boosting critical domestic manufacturing capacity.
“We are committed to providing workers a robust and easy-to-access Employment Insurance system that is there to protect them, and we’ll invest in skills training, apprenticeships, and job transition plans so people can find good jobs close to home.”
Housing:
“Too many Canadians are being forced to give up their dream of having a home that they can afford. Every day I hear from people that having safe affordable shelter is a key issue for our riding,” he says. “For the last 30 years, governments have only been able to build 85 homes that you can afford PER YEAR on public land. And Poilievre wants to sell off even more public land, allowing big developers to keep driving up prices.
But we have solutions. We can start building on public land to build over 100,000 rent-controlled homes. We will support non-profits, co-ops and Indigenous communities to build housing. And we will use Project Labour Agreements to support good family supporting jobs during construction.
We are also committed to banning corporate landlords from buying affordable housing, fast-tracking and expanding the federal Rental Protection Fund, and helping community-led organizations keep housing affordable.
Riding Issues:
“A constant theme over the years and in this election has been the cost of living, especially food price inflation,” he says. “Many of the major corporate players in key economic sectors, including grocery retail, have enjoyed record profits, which have come directly at the expense of people in our communities.
“High prices have impacted both the quality and quantity of food that families have been able to purchase, and food bank usage is at record levels. Food security in our region needs urgent attention.”
“The NDP plans to address these high costs with a permanent GST cut on essentials; a price cap on essentials; legislation to crack down on price gouging, surging, fixing, and shrinkflation; and with fairer taxation on excess corporate profits. As this riding’s MP, I led the way in taking on the corporate grocery retail giants in Parliament, and I have championed legislation to protect consumers and bring in more competition to challenge their market dominance,” he says.
Voters will head to the polls on April 28.
