Yasir Naqvi is running in his first federal election as the Liberal Party candidate for Ottawa Centre.
Naqvi worked as the MPP for Ottawa Centre from 2007 to 2018. During this time, he served in many roles, including Attorney General of Ontario, Government House Leader, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services and Minister of Labour.
Naqvi sat down with the Charlatan to discuss climate change, affordable housing and student financial assistance.
Climate change
Naqvi said climate change is a serious and real threat, not only to Canada but to the world. He added how when he speaks with voters and his two children, there’s an urgency for aggressive action.
“One of the big reasons I’m coming back into running for public office is to work on these important issues like climate change, so that when my children ask ‘Daddy, what did you do to deal with the problem?’ I’m able to give them a good answer,” Naqvi said.
The Liberal Party has promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Naqvi said the Liberals have put together “a very comprehensive, pragmatic plan forward” and added that economists and analysts have given “the best grade” to the Liberal climate plan.
An analysis by Mark Jaccard, a professor and economist at Simon Fraser University, stated the Liberal plan is the most effective and least costly. The Conservative and Green plans were ranked second and third respectively. The NDP plan was ranked last for its unaffordability.
Locally, Naqvi said he wants to make Ottawa more eco-friendly by improving active transportation with dedicated bike lanes, closing Colonel By Drive to vehicle traffic for a full-year pilot and improving air quality by deploying electric OC Transpo busses in local downtown routes with higher pollution levels.
Naqvi also said he wants to enhance and protect green spaces in Ottawa by planting more trees in the community and looking at new spaces for urban parks, such as Lebreton Flats or Tunney’s Pasture.
Affordable housing
Naqvi said the Liberal Party isn’t trying to be “gimmicky” when tackling housing affordability.
He referenced the Liberal party’s promise to ban foreign money from purchasing a non-recreational, residential property in Canada for the next two years unless the purchase is confirmed for future employment or immigration.
The Liberals will also introduce an anti-flipping tax on residential properties, requiring them to be held for at least 12 months.
“We’ve taken a really comprehensive view by looking at different factors that, in the marketplace, are causing an increase [in prices],” Naqvi said.
To help Canadians under 40 years old, the Liberals are also promising to introduce a savings account that can store up to $40,000 towards a first home. The money can be withdrawn tax-free with no requirement to repay.
“I wish I had that, I had to cash my RESPs to [make] my down payment,” Naqvi said. “If I had something like a TFSA, which is what we’re proposing to do tax-free, that would have gone a long way towards helping me put a down payment.”
Locally, Naqvi said he wants to create 1,700 new affordable homes, adding that he sees an opportunity to partner with non-profit social housing groups such as Ottawa Community Housing to address chronic homelessness in Ottawa.
Student financial assistance
Naqvi said he’s familiar with affordability issues at the post-secondary level. He was part of Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario provincial government, which sought to make post-secondary education free for low and middle-income students.
He said he was “disappointed” that the Ford government got rid of the Ontario Liberal government’s free tuition program, which gave students from low-income families non-repayable grants. Conservatives replaced the program with a grant-and-loan system.
“That’s a setback, in my opinion, at the provincial level,” Naqvi said.
At the federal level, the Liberals are promising to permanently eliminate interest on Canada Student Loans and increase the repayment assistance threshold to $50,000 for single borrowers.
“We want to make post-secondary education as accessible as possible, and as affordable as possible,” Naqvi said. “We know that our strength as a country is our people, and the more educated our workforce is, the better we are as a society. I am a firm believer that our best natural resource is our human resource.”
Featured image provided by Yasir Naqvi.
