LAURIE WEIR

With a federal election set for April 28, and the political landscape shifting under the weight of inflation, housing concerns and trade uncertainty, candidates are beginning to stake their ground in Lanark–Frontenac.

Danielle Rae, the NDP candidate in the riding, joins our “3 Questions” series, sharing her stance on the issues shaping this campaign—from U.S. tariffs and economic recovery to rural infrastructure and what it takes to win over long-time Conservative voters. Rae is on the ballot with incumbent Conservative MP Scott Reid, Liberal candidate Michelle Foxton, and the Green Party’s Jesse Pauley.

1. How will your party’s plan protect local jobs and small businesses from the impact of U.S. tariffs?

The NDP’s plan puts people before corporations. This is why our plan will give all money collected from auto counter-tariffs to the workers and communities hit hardest by American tariffs. Our GST/HST tax cuts are permanent and targeted towards essentials like diapers, grocery store meals, and utility bill payment, which will help us get through these tough times.

The Liberals on the other hand only want to give businesses a temporary deferral on GST/HST payments, meaning the consumer will still foot the bill and small businesses will still have to pay up as soon as the government decides that the crisis is over.

This shows a key difference between the Liberal, Conservative and NDP approaches to U.S. tariffs: while Conservative politicians barely mention them at all and pretend they don’t exist, and Liberal politicians pretend they’re a temporary crisis that’ll go away soon, the NDP understands the need to make life more affordable for Canadians regardless of the ups and downs of U.S. tariffs. We understand that the trade relationships we’ve had with the U.S. are likely never “going back to normal,” and unlike the other parties we are ready to face that reality.

2. What’s your stance on party leadership — do you support their approach to Canada’s economy, and why?

Yes I do, because I have felt the squeeze as a renter, just like half of Carleton Place and much of the rest of the riding. Rents are incredibly high in Frontenac especially, sometimes $1,500/month for minimum wage workers, and we’ve seen how Liberal and Conservative policies to combat the housing crisis have both failed dramatically, with their versions of “affordable housing” just resulting in more luxury condos driving up tenants’ rent and homeowners’ property taxes.

Poilievre has barely said a thing about housing, instead talking all about tax breaks which he’ll fund by “trimming the fat from the federal bureaucracy,” which sounds a lot like DOGE thinking. We’ve seen in the U.S. that that approach hurts rural communities and farmers the most. Meanwhile, Jagmeet Singh has made housing a central plank.

Unlike the Liberal and Conservative economic plans, the NDP plan puts the people first, aiming to protect our incomes and our jobs as we find new trade partners outside of our increasingly unstable southern neighbour. Meanwhile, the Liberals and Conservatives will actually worsen the situation for working Canadians and small business owners: by helping major corporations ride out the storm with policies like temporary GST/HST deferments while leaving ordinary Canadians behind, they will make it easy for them to do the same thing they did in 2008, which is to buy up struggling small business owners or defaulting homeowners at a fraction of their value, letting these corporations consolidate control and gouge their new tenants and consumers through monopolization.

3. Why should long-time Conservative voters in this riding take a chance on you — or your party — in this election?

I don’t think the gap between the NDP and Conservative voters is unbridgeable. I don’t think ideology is why the NDP has historically underperformed in this riding; I think it’s because we need to connect with people where they’re at, in person. And that’s what I aim to do.

Conservatives are fed up with corporations controlling the government, they’re fed up with all talk and no action from our political establishment, and they want a better life. That’s what we want too, and I think when you get into the weeds and look at who’s funding us and who’s funding the Conservative Party’s politicians, when you look at who benefits from their policies, a Conservative government will ultimately make a lot of noise but really just serve corporate interests the same as the Liberals do.

Why would Scott Reid, chairman of Giant Tiger, work to bring grocery bills down for ordinary Canadians? It’s just like in America: Trump promised to drain the swamp, but the billionaires who funded the Democratic party also funded him, and all it took was a few concessions to his brand of identity politics and now they’re running the show more blatantly than ever.

I also think that a lot of Conservative voters love Canada, and are disappointed when they see major figures within their own movement going to fancy galas with Ben Shapiro, who said that Canada should become the “Puerto Rico of the north.” I think many Conservatives feel disappointed in their leaders going soft on those who threaten Canada’s very sovereignty, and I believe that if we make the case to them, they’ll trust the NDP to protect their sovereignty and their economy more than they’ll trust the Liberal party.