Many of the issues arising from talk about the 51st state and tariffs coming out of the Trump administration directly affect our region.
Yet the Liberal candidate for Kapuskasing-Timmins-Mushkegowuk in the April 28th election says this time, it’s more of a national than a riding-based election.
Steve Black says Mark Carney has the strong voice and economic background to lead Canada through it.
“When you have a U.S. president talking about making our country his 51st state, that’s a bit of a national crisis,” Black surmises. “If it was made once as a flippant joke, it would be bad enough, but the fact that he’s repeated it on a number of times and his surrogates have repeated it as well, makes it a significant crisis for us to deal with in terms of that relationship.”
Black adds that any campaign has a variety of issues, and while the national ones are in the forefront this time, Carney’s concentration on the economy, jobs and the energy and natural resources sectors are important to his riding.
Kapuskasing-Timmins-Mushkegowuk is the size of a European country, so it’s tough to campaign over only 35 days.
Black doesn’t see it as being stuck with it at least until 2029, when more boundary changes could occur.
“We have a unique riding with a diverse culture within it, between our francophone communities, our anglophone communities, our Indigenous peoples and all the other cultures that live across our riding,” Black figures. “It’s really a unique scenario to get involved and reach out to the people and hear what’s important to all of them, regardless of where they are in the riding.”
Audio of our full interview is below.
