Konstantine Malakos is consistent in his commitment to connecting with voters. The New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell said he has been trying to get to know what is on voters’ minds and has been maintaining a “jam-packed schedule” since the campaign for the October 21 vote began.
Malakos has been trying to reach voters in smaller communities; he specifically mentioned door-to-door visits in Apple Hill, St-Anne-de Prescott, Glen Robertson, and Fournier.
The NDP candidate has a long history of activism and political involvement. He said he grew up hearing about the challenges of ordinary working people who were customers at the diner his parents owned in his hometown of Peterborough. Malakos was part of the movement to have same-sex marriage legalized in New York state following his time as a student with the Atlantic Theater Company at New York University. He later served on the executive of an NDP riding association in Montréal.
Coalition-building is important for Malakos. He said that as a Member of Parliament, he would bring together groups and individuals on issues like economic development, poverty reduction, and immigration.
Malakos is proud of the NDP’s plan to create 300,000 jobs nationwide in the green energy sector. He said Hawkesbury has a lot of potential to benefit from a plan like that and added that the town could become a hub for green energy development.
The NDP is strong in its defence of supply management in the dairy, poultry, and egg industries. Malakos said he is tired of international trade agreements that “sell away” Canada’s food sovereignty. He emphasized the NDP would also eliminate the federal land transfer tax on family farms that transfer from one generation to the next.
Canada needs to include the option of walking away from negotiations on international trade agreements if they are not good for the country’s workers and manufacturers, according to Malakos.
“You don’t have to sign a deal, I’m not anti-trade, but I’m anti-trade that doesn’t put farmers and workers first,” he stated.
“I’ve been hearing a lot about SNC Lavalin at the door,” Malakos said, in reference to the alleged interference by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office in the prosecution of the Montréal-based engineering firm over its business with the former dictatorship in Libya. Malakos said the situation is indicative of how politics has been done in deference to corporations.
The NDP has no plans to eliminate the carbon tax implemented by the Liberals but promises to better ensure the biggest polluters pay their share. In order to ease the burden of fuel costs, Malakos said an NDP government would create an agency to regulate gasoline prices.
