As the leadership convention draws closer, the candidates in the running for the top spot in the federal New Democratic Party continue to try and reach out to voters.
Leadership hopeful Martin Singh paid his first visit to Prince George yesterday, his northernmost B.C. stop after previous checks into Kelowna. He spent the day meeting with union members at the United Steelworkers and party members and community members at Books and Company as well as the local Sikh temples.
Singh, a pharmacist and businessman from rural Nova Scotia, is one of the remaining seven contenders to fill the spot left by the late Jack Layton.
Also in the running are party strategist Brian Topp, MPs Thomas Mulcair, Paul Dewar, Niki Ashton, Nathan Cullen and Peggy Nash.
Quebec MP Romeo Saganash dropped out of the race a week ago.
Singh said reaching out to various segments of the population is important right now as the cutoff date looms for party
membership.
In order to vote for the new leader, people must have joined or renewed their membership in the NDP by Saturday.
The party votes on Layton's successor March 23 and 24.
As he travels across the country, Singh said he's come across similar themes of concern from Canadians.
"People here in B.C. are concerned about increasing the amount of finished products, so they don't like the export of raw logs.
"You move next door to Alberta, it's the export of raw bitumen... The details of the particular issue, the specificity of the particular issue is different, but the theme is quite similar," Singh said.
While he doesn't currently hold a seat in Parliament, Singh is the president of the party's faith and social justice commission.
He is also treasurer for the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health.
He is an active member of the Sikh faith and the Canadian Armed Force Reserves.
A main plank is Singh's
platform is finding a synergy between the private sector and environmentalists.
After becoming a member of the Sierra Club, Singh said he came to the understanding that environmentalists understand the problems facing responsible innovation as well as the
solutions.
"The difficulty is they don't have the financing or the business background to commercialize those ideas, so that's where your private sector comes in. So that's where I really see the synergy between those two groups," he said.
As the contest nears its final weeks, there is still a level of comraderie between the
leadership candidates.
While not part of his specific riding, Singh recognized that Prince George is Nathan Cullen's stomping ground and noted a level of respect that comes with campaigning in places where someone is well known.
"The relationship between the candidates is generally amicable. There's an understanding there's a need to share the ideas across all borders," he said.
"I would say Nathan and I generally get along quite well. And the other candidates get along as well.
"At the end of the day, we're all on the same team."
