Konstantine Malakos is making another attempt to become the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.

On April 23, Malakos was acclaimed as the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate for the next federal election in an online nomination meeting. Originally, Sylvie Paquette was also seeking the nomination, but withdrew from the race and is planning to seek the provincial NDP nomination instead.

Malakos was the NDP candidate for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell in the 2019 federal election and received 6,851 votes, or 10.4 per cent of the popular vote – finishing third behind Conservative candidate Pierre Lemieux and incumbent Liberal MP Francis Drouin.

After accepting the nomination, Malakos delivered a speech, in which he touched on several topics.

“One of the appeals of this region is our beautiful natural landscape, but erosion from clearcutting is destroying our soil, making winter driving conditions more treacherous and destroying natural habitats and beauty,” said Malakos.

The NDP candidate said the federal government needs to do more on gender issues.

“Gender equality is also an issue that still affects women and non-binary people’s everyday lives -we need a federal action plan that is intersectional and takes into account all aspects of our identities in fighting sexism and misogyny.”

Malakos contended racism is more common than Canadians are willing to admit and noted that anti-Asian hate crimes have been on the rise since the pandemic began.

“Enough is enough, we need a government willing to come forward and do something,” the federal NDP candidate said.

According to Malakos, income inequality has increased since the pandemic began, and the other two major political parties are not interested in effectively addressing the problem.

“Whether it be the Liberals or Conservatives, we will never have a just and fair economy until we send New Democrats to the House of Commons to take on corporate greed and tax the rich,” Malakos exclaimed.

Malakos also criticized the federal Liberals for the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, due to a lack of production facilities in Canada. He said the pandemic has also highlighted the need to make more public services fully accessible to people with disabilities.

“We also need to address the ways government policy continues to ensure many in the disabled community are unable to escape poverty,” Malakos said.