MP Richard Cannings was lit up when he visited Outreach Neon in Oliver this week. Photo by Dan Walton
The local MP popped into Outreach Neon Ltd in Oliver on Aug. 4 while taking stock of the economic drivers in his riding.
“Something I like to do is find out what makes this region tick; find out what keeps the economy going,” said Richard Cannings, MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay. “Earlier we went to a fruit packing plant (Osoyoos), Outreach Neon (Oliver), and we’re going to the Dubh Glas Distillery up at Gallagher Lake.”
Cannings spent four days earlier touring the Kootenays, namely checking out mills and the forest industry.
“I want to see as many businesses and industries in the riding to get a face-to-face sense of what’s going on and where we can help.”
He welcomes much of the Liberal Party’s “progressive” platform, and he said the NDP will be holding them to their promises.
“We’re a little disappointed how slow it’s going,” he said, citing electoral reform, marijuana legalization and the repealing of “damaging environmental laws put in place by the Conservatives.”
Although the NDP and Liberals aren’t completely synchronized in their approach to governing, Cannings said his party’s progressive approach makes it a much more effective opposition than the Conservative Party.
“They’re bashing the Liberals from the other side, and I find it much more constructive from where I sit.”
But even though Cannings can agree with many of Trudeau’s policies, he said the idea of crossing the floor to join the Liberals has “No, nay, never” crossed his mind.
He said the toughest part about belonging to the third party is not being able to get a majority of votes on issues important to the NDP. On the contrary, he said being part of a 44 MPs caucus still offers a roster full of veteran mentors, but the lean team gives him more opportunity to climb the ranks by taking on bigger jobs.
“Because it’s a small caucus I get to do interesting things. I’m the critic for natural resources and post secondary education –those are things that a rookie MP from the Liberal side wouldn’t get.”
Cannings said it’s yet to be seen how Liberal promises of investing in infrastructure and innovation will be rolled out, which he’s cautiously optimistic about.
“There are a lot of smart people in this riding doing interesting things that I think are worthy of that kind of support. Canadians are ahead of the game in innovation; I think that’s one of the places where we can use some support.”
After last year’s federal election saw the NDP lose 51 seats, party leader Tom Mulcair vowed to remain in charge and Cannings, on election night, said he would continue to support Mulcair. But a leadership review in April called for Mulcair to get dumped, and while many prospective candidates have been named to replace him, no front runners have emerged, and Cannings was impartial as to who the next leader should be.
He wasn’t impartial when it came to provincial politics however, and said he’ll “most certainly” be supporting his NDP cousins before next spring’s election. Following his tours of the local industries on Aug. 4, Cannings had a meeting with provincial NDP leader John Horgan.
Asked about the military build-up in Eastern Europe between NATO and Russia, Cannings doesn’t see how aggression can be of benefit to either side.
“Everybody of my age lived through the cold war and were happy to see it go. I don’t like to see it coming back, I don’t like to see any sort of military provocation on any side. There are ways to deal with this problem other than brandishing of swords in the modern sense.”
By Dan Walton
