Saturday September 4, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC
Commentary by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
This Tweet tonight by Alistair MacGregor is one of the reasons people can be hopeful that politics can indeed be done differently:
“Let’s put the campaign aside for a moment and appreciate that we have (so far) three leaders of federal parties, @theJagmeetSingh, @JustinTrudeau, and @erinotoole, coming together to make a joint statement on the importance of getting #vaccines to combat this pandemic.”
Alistair MacGregor is the NDP incumbent running for a third term in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford. He’s been out door-knocking for weeks and has done a few roadside rallies to generate some on-the-ground excitement in a campaign that has found itself operating within the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NDP approach is about doing what’s best for people, including joint-statements and collaborating on legislation (like the one that pushed CERB to $2,000 per month, up from the proposed $1,000/month, back in the spring of 2020).
Fresh progressive directions:
Over the years, Island Social Trends has found MacGregor to be someone who takes fresh directions in politics — tackling things for the greater good, not just partisan interest.
He has worked hard to maintain a footprint in the large riding that spans from Duncan down to include Langford as well as the Cowichan Valley over into Juan de Fuca up to Port Renfrew, including holding several town hall meetings by Zoom during the pandemic.
He understands and empathizes with seniors (many who have recently lost their Guaranteed Income Supplement for having taken CERB payments in 2020), small business (realizes their challenges to hire employees during the economic recovery), and students (and the cost of student loans).
MacGregor supports the NDP mission to take profit out of long-term care, and the goal of achieving $10-a-day child care.
National scope by MacGregor:
MacGregor has been a solid backer of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh since Singh became the party leader in 2017, hosting him several times in Duncan and at least once in Langford.
MacGregor is very proud of his Soil Health bill, introduced in the House of Commons in April 2021, which (if introduced again in the 44th parliament) would broaden the approaches to agriculture and small farming in Canada. He and wife run a small farm in the Duncan area.
===== RELATED:
Alistair MacGregor for 3rd term: important vote for Canada’s future (August 26, 2021)
Hard to get profit out of long-term care but NDP set to try (August 24, 2021)
Some seniors toughing out GIS clawback during election (August 16, 2021)
Alistair MacGregor launches campaign for 3rd term in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford (August 15, 2021)
