Supporting agriculture producers through the current tariff crisis and addressing the cost of living are top priorities for the Green Party of Canada candidate running in the Medicine Hat – Cardston – Warner riding.
Andy Shadrack says according to statistics 10 per cent of seniors across the country are either homeless or facing homelessness, something he believes can be addressed through public housing.
“We need to expand local government, community and co-operative housing, and offer down payment and mortgage assistance programs through CMHC,” Shadrack says. “When I was growing up in the 1950’s and 1960s in the [United Kingdom], Conservative governments built public housing because it was understood not everyone could afford market housing. We need to re-introduce programs that existed from the end of World War II to the 1980s.”
He adds the minimum wage in the country needs to be raised to $25 an hour which would address the growing income inequality in the country where 20 per cent of the population control 66 per cent of the wealth with an average of $3.4 million per household with 40 per cent of Canadians controlling 2.8 per cent of national wealth. Shadrack states every Canadian has the right to housing and a living wage, with wealthier individuals paying more in taxes and multi-millionaires and billionaires being subject to a wealth tax.
“It makes no fiscal sense that the oil and gas industry receives $19 billion in subsidies and credits when the CAO for Suncor earns more than $729,000 a year.”
“We need a guaranteed annual income for those who are experiencing physical and mental illness, so they can live with dignity and pay for the help they need.”
The Green Party Candidate also thinks it will be important to address impacts local farmers are dealing with from the Chinese and U.S, tariffs.
“Agriculture remains the backbone of the constituencies regional economy,” Shadrack says. “My spouse and I purchase a yearly local farm share, and buy meat from local producers. Believe we should rebuild our local and regional economies rather than importing goods from far away. We need to create a future that supports local families, communities, and the natural environment that sustains us.”
He adds he is running for the Green Party because, at 74-years-old he believes each generation has a responsibility to leave the community and country in a better state than they found it.
Shadrack is running against New Democratic Party candidate Jocelyn Johnson, Conservative Party of Canada candidate Glen Mott and Liberal Party candidate Tom Rooke.
