Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh discusses opioid crisis, child care while touring the South Okanagan

The federal leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh, was visiting the South Okanagan Thursday.

Singh’s stops during his one-day visit were to include coffee shops in Penticton and Okanagan Falls, along with NDP MP Richard Cannings, who represents the riding of South Okanagan and West Kootenay.

In Penticton, Singh fielded questions from the media during his South Okanagan visit.

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Among the topics were the opioid crisis and child care.

“If you look at people who are being arrested for personal possession … these are folks that are dealing with mental health, addictions and they’re dealing with poverty,” said Singh.

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“And so what we need to do is to respond to that – mental health, addiction and poverty issues – with a health-care response. We really need to take care of these folks to make sure that they actually get the support they need for rehab so they are not back in this position.

“I absolutely believe that if we want to save lives, and help people out — we’ve lost thousands of Canadians to the opioid crisis, and our current approach is not working — we need to change the way we approach this.”

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Singh also talked about child care.

“We’ve seen some of the work that’s already happening here in B.C.,” said Singh. “The government here is doing incredible work to actually make it more affordable and to have more spaces available.

“They need a federal partner. I’ve met families that spend so much of their income that it’s not even worth going to work. It means that women are being precluded from the workplace; they’re not getting a chance to go to work.

“What we have to do, and what I’m committed to doing, is building a national child care strategy, where we develop universal, affordable child care across this country so that there’s never a barrier.”

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