Residents in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding will go to the polls on April 28 to vote in the federal election. We invited the five nominated candidates to weigh in on current issues. Lisa Marie Barron, running for the NDP, provided the following answers. Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
What is your position on U.S. tariffs, and what approach should Canada take in managing its relationship with the United States?
What we’ve seen in the last few months has been a shock for many Canadians, and sadly, we cannot put the same amount of trust in the American government as we once did. But we also can’t ignore how interconnected our two economies are and how these tariffs impact workers and small businesses in Nanaimo-Ladysmith with longstanding U.S. relationships. Trump’s U.S. tariff war and annexation threats increase challenges like the cost of living, affordable housing, and real climate action. New Democrats agree with the counter tariffs and have pledged to use those dollars to protect everyday Canadians during these uncertain times.
My plan as a New Democrat is to take care of people and to prioritize a “buy and build Canadian” approach. Bring in restructured taxation and employment insurance that protects workers while Canada diversifies its trading partnerships. Promote value-added processing of resources at home. Make life more affordable with no GST on basics like home heating and internet. Stop the gouging on essentials like groceries and rent.
Major tax cuts are being proposed during the election campaign. Do you believe this could affect the government’s ability to fund social programs due to reduced revenue?
With the NDP, it’s about fairness. Those who profit the most should be taxed the most. We need to stop handing out tax cuts to big corporations and global shareholders at the expense of Canadian workers and families. We need to put an end to the corporate tax dodging that companies like Brookfield get away with. When the richest CEOs are making 210 times more than the average worker’s wage, there’s something very wrong.
Poilievre speaks about cutting back or privatizing social programs the NDP made possible and that people rely on — like healthcare, dental, pensions, and employment insurance. What he’s not telling you is that, just like the Trump playbook, he intends to take that money away from the things you need to thrive and hand it over to the ultra-wealthy in the form of huge tax cuts.
Housing affordability in Canada is a key issue in this election. As an MP, how would you and the federal government help Canadians buy homes and manage rising rents?
Affordable, adequate, and safe housing is a universal human right — not a luxury. Unfortunately, successive Liberal and Conservative governments have viewed housing as an investment vehicle. Often these investments are used to make ultra-wealthy shareholders in multinational Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) even richer. New Democrats have always championed affordable, accessible and secure housing and we continue to bring forward ways to fix the housing crisis fuelled by greed and poor management by prior governments.
We will unlock the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to offer low-interest mortgages for first time home buyers. We will promote a “buy and build Canadian” approach to all new social housing projects. We will protect Crown land from private sale and enable it to be used for equitable, rent-controlled homes. Through our Rental Protection Fund and our new National Rent Control program, we will help stop the renovictions and unfair rent hikes that are leaving so many everyday Canadians without housing security.
What specific actions would you support to fight climate change and protect Canada’s environment?
We will stop handing over public subsidies and tax breaks to big oil and gas companies. This alone will save Canadians 18 billion dollars over the next 10 years. We will then invest that money in the real work of meeting our committed emissions reduction targets. New Democrats understand that the main drivers of climate change aren’t regular people; it’s big corporations — the largest emitters who also continue to lobby for more relaxed environmental regulations. We will keep industrial carbon pricing on those corporations, along with the emissions cap. We believe government should lead industry — not simply bow to corporate interests. We will act quickly to put in place transition frameworks that protect workers and help them transition to good-paying, sustainable jobs.
Unlike the Conservatives who refuse to even declare that climate change is real, New Democrats are the strongest voice for an environmental plan that protects jobs and the planet so future generations can enjoy our oceans and forests and continue to thrive thanks to the incredible biodiversity of our region.
What steps would you, as an MP, like to see taken to address the opioid crisis?
We need to treat our opioid crisis as a public health emergency — not a criminal offence. The opioid crisis should not be cast as a political issue, and we believe that the experts should be the ones leading the charge. Those experts tell us time and again that what’s needed is education and de-stigmatization so that people feel able to seek the care they need, and real investment in treatment beds and the trained professionals to staff them.
The opioid crisis is a complex problem with many moving parts — addictions, mental health, homelessness, affordability, intimate partner violence are just the most common. Too often, our system only treats the most obvious symptom without addressing the other, underlying factors. New Democrats would ensure that federal funding to provinces is adequate to provide the wraparound supports that the science, data, and experts show is needed, like housing affordability and security, in-community mental health supports, and the preventative healthcare interventions that would be possible by investing more federal dollars into recruiting, training, and reducing recertification barriers for more primary care physicians.
