After stopping by to give a little boost to the United Way Drive-Thru Breakfast on March 2, Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh sat down with the Penticton Western News to talk about some of the big issues impacting people in Penticton and across the South Okanagan.

The Western News had the chance to ask about the ways he feels that the crises of housing, mental health and cost of living should be met by the federal government.

One of the first issues, and one that the local city council has been vocal about tackling, is housing. While he did not commit to proposing or supporting it outright, Singh did offer consideration for a federal version of BC Housing, as a Crown corporation that would build and operate affordable housing projects.

害羞草研究所淚 think we absolutely need a federal partner,害羞草研究所� said Singh. 害羞草研究所淲e have the [Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation], that can provide the support to build, but they don害羞草研究所檛 provide the operating costs. If we build housing, we also need to fund the operations of the housing and the maintenance and upkeep.

Singh also pointed to the need to take on private entities when it comes to tackling the rising rent rates and house prices, and the number of homes that are bought up and often sit empty.

害羞草研究所淚t has become extremely profitable, extremely lucrative for large corporations to make money off of housing,害羞草研究所� said Singh. 害羞草研究所淚f that害羞草研究所檚 the case, it will be impossible for people to be able to afford a place to rent to own because if it害羞草研究所檚 so lucrative and billion dollar corporations will continue to buy up housing that should be for rent, or that should be for people to own. They will then use it to make more, more profit, charging higher and higher rents or just sitting on it, leaving it empty while it increases in value. Both of those scenarios are wrong.害羞草研究所�

The provincial government害羞草研究所檚 empty residence tax was one that Singh directly pointed to bringing to the federal level as a way to start tackling the corporate buy-ups of homes, but he also noted that was only one aspect of the bigger housing issue. He reiterated that alongside targeting the market end of the issue by making it less profitable for large corporations there also needs to be more cooperative and non-profit housing.

Another aspect that Singh pointed to was the NDP害羞草研究所檚 lobbying of the government to change the definition of what counts as affordable, which he said is set to come into effect later in 2023. Though he did not have local numbers, he cited Vancouver as an example where under the existing definition a rent of $2,200 would be considered affordable while under the new definition, it would just be $1,000, which will impact developers seeking to build grant-funded affordable projects.

When it comes to the mental health crisis on the streets of Penticton, Singh called out the Liberal government for not following through on their promised transfer for mental health funding and the federal government in general for having chipped away over decades the initial promise of equal funding for health care with the provinces.

害羞草研究所淵ou go anywhere in this country and people who need to access mental health, whether it害羞草研究所檚 addiction services or counselling, it害羞草研究所檚 either extremely expensive or there害羞草研究所檚 just no availability,害羞草研究所� said Singh.

害羞草研究所淪o we need to see a massive increase in the priority we put on health care and that means the federal government has to step up as an equal partner and invest in mental health and invest in health in general.害羞草研究所�

This was Singh害羞草研究所檚 latest visit to the Okanagan, following previous visits in 2019, and 2021.

害羞草研究所淢y one complaint is that I害羞草研究所檓 here in the winter and I didn害羞草研究所檛 get to swim in the lake,害羞草研究所� said Singh. 害羞草研究所淣ormally I害羞草研究所檝e never done a trip where I didn害羞草研究所檛 actually swim at least once.害羞草研究所�

For the full interview, go to the Penticton Western News害羞草研究所� Facebook page.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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