During his campaign visit in St. John’s, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh made bold promises to fix the country’s doctor shortage and to support fish harvesters.
While standing with healthcare workers, Singh said he has a plan to make sure every Canadian has a family doctor by 2030. In Newfoundland and Labrador, one-third of the population is without a family doctor.
“We need more nurses, more healthcare workers, and we need more physicians,” said Singh.
To do this, Singh said he would open up 1000 more residency spots in Canada to create more positions for internationally trained doctors who can’t find work. He is also looking to train more physicians who are already living in rural communities.
“Let’s train people from those communities who have roots there, who have family there, who have connections there,” said Singh. “They’re more likely to want to practice in the communities and serve the patients that they have grown up with.”
Access to doctors in rural N.L. is sparse, with many attending virtual appointments, or driving hours for emergency care.
Singh also committed to decreasing doctors’ administration work to free them up to more patients, and will offer a 1 percent increase to federal healthcare transfers to provinces who agree to the plan.
“We’re in a crisis. We’ve got to respect these workers. We’ve got to make sure they’re well compensated for the important work they do,” he said.
WATCH | The NDP leader unveil his new plan to increase family doctors in the country:
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Saturday that an NDP government would improve access to family doctors by opening more residency spots for internationally trained physicians living in Canada, and boost federal health transfers by one per cent to provinces and territories that can ‘guarantee’ access to doctors.
Supporting the fisheries and workers
As for the fishery, Singh said his government would focus on small local fishermen – rather than “large commercial fleets.”
“The emphasis should be on local fishermen,” said Singh, adding that he would take a worker first approach.
Mary Shortall, candidate for St. John’s East, also pointed out the threat to the fisheries made by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. She said the NDP would invest in social safety nets and the employment insurance system to support impacted workers.
“The best offence for us at this point is defence,” she said. “If they’re going to lose their jobs, they want to know that they’ll have some kind of protection to spell them over.”
In the face of tariff threats, Carney has promised to remove all interprovincal trade barriers to create free trade between the provinces.
Singh agrees that some barriers can be removed to ensure better trade between provinces, but said that some protections are still important.
N.L. breweries are one industry that some fear would be hit hard by removing those barriers. Unions believe it would result in major brewers like Labatt and Molson closing their breweries in the province.
“There are some protections in place that are very important,” said Singh. “If we have an opportunity to build something in Newfoundland and Labrador, we want folks in Newfoundland and Labrador to have those jobs.”
WATCH | NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is confident his party will win seats in Atlantic Canada:
During a campaign stop in St. John’s on Saturday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the chances of the NDP not winning a seat in Atlantic Canada were ‘zero.’
Zero percent chance of losing Atlantic Canada, says Singh
CBC’s poll tracker is currently projecting that the NDP will win 0 Atlantic seats in the upcoming election.
But, Singh said there’s a 0 percent chance they won’t have an Atlantic seat.
Specifically, he referenced former St. John’s East MP Jack Harris, who held the district for 8 years.
He said people in St. John’s East “remember the difference when they had NDP members working hard for them, fighting for them, and people still want that.”
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.
