Angella MacEwen is running in her first federal election as the NDP candidate for Ottawa Centre.
She is currently a senior economist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), co-chair of the Trade Justice Network and a steering committee member of the Progressive Economics Forum.
She sat down with the Charlatan to discuss climate change, affordable housing and student financial assistance.
Climate change
MacEwen said climate change is “one of the most urgent issues facing us” and added that leaders aren’t doing enough. She said climate change is a collective action issue and more needs to be done at a governmental level.
“We can’t all do anything more to stop the forest fires, that’s not within our individual power,” MacEwen said. “So much of the past 10 years of climate action has been individual responsibility, like biking more or buying an electric car or using less plastic… We need real, serious action.”
The NDP has promised to reduce Canada’s emissions by at least 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 with the intention to be net-zero by 2050.
MacEwen said the NDP plan includes implementing carbon border adjustments, which will level the playing field for businesses by ensuring goods that are imported from other countries face the same carbon costs as goods produced domestically.
She also said the NDP wants to invest money in retrofitting public buildings and low-income residences rather than exclusively incentivizing homeowners, which she added was important because “the market can’t do it.”
“There are people that just can’t afford to [retrofit their homes],” MacEwen said. “There’s no market mechanism that’s going to help so we have to spend the money publicly.”
Locally, MacEwen said there are opportunities to build affordable housing units to the highest climate standards and put them near transit hubs in Ottawa alongside investing in active transportation, like bike lanes.
Finally, MacEwen said she wants to preserve land in areas like Mechanicsville for green spaces in order to improve the quality of Ottawa’s tree canopy.
“We need more trees, not less in Ottawa,” MacEwen said.
Affordable housing
The NDP has promised to create at least 500,000 new units of affordable housing within the next 10 years, with half being completed within five years.
MacEwen said the NDP wants to build more non-profit, co-op and publicly owned units to combat Ottawa’s growing waitlist for social and affordable housing.
According to a report from the City of Ottawa, there are approximately 10,000 households on the waitlist for social housing, with wait times reaching five years or more.
MacEwen said it’s important to provide more affordable housing to prevent landlords from raising prices year after year. She said the NDP plans to build 20,000 units in Ottawa, with about 10,000 specifically in Ottawa Centre.
“When you have low vacancy rates like [Ottawa] does, it’s easier for landlords to boost prices,” MacEwen said. “We need to increase that vacancy on the low end to help people afford rental housing and provide some level of security. It’s not going to get jacked up every year by a huge amount.”
On student housing specifically, MacEwen said she’s knocked on a lot of doors and has found student homes that landlords have left poorly maintained. She said she’d like to work with the Ontario provincial government to improve the Residential Tenancies Act and provide more protections for renters.
Student financial assistance
The NDP has pledged to introduce a targeted debt forgiveness program that will forgive up to $20,000 of student debt. Additionally, the party has promised to permanently remove interest from federal student loans and permanently double non-repayable Canada Student Grants.
MacEwen said the NDP’s long-term vision is making post-secondary education free. She said the advantage of investing in post-secondary education is helping people earn more money through better jobs, which they can pay back into the system.
“$20,000 is a lot of money, right? When you’re coming out of university and the average student debt is $30,000, it’s really hard to start a career that much in the hole,” MacEwen said, referencing data from Statistics Canada.
MacEwen highlighted another NDP promise to freeze student loan repayments for five years, adding how she has found students often do not have stable employment for five to 10 years after graduating.
“It’s really not common to get a stable, permanent job with benefits for quite a while,” MacEwen said. “In that situation where you don’t have income security and you have to pay back thousands in student loans, [the five-year student loan repayment freeze] just makes it easier for people. Less stress.”
Featured image provided by Angella MacEwen.
