NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was in Timmins yesterday, touring the city with James Bay MP Charlie Angus.

Singh started his day off with a tour of the EACOM Mill, where he saw the impact the Mills has as a business generator and economic force. Singh spoke to employees and city officials about economic investments for the North. He then went to speak with students at Theriault High School and Northern College.

“Talking to students is a way to understand what the younger generation cares about,” Singh told Rogers Media in a one-on-one interview. “That’s always inspiring and also really eye-opening.”

Singh then met with members of the Downtown Timmins BIA at Christopher’s Coffee House, where he also met Mayor Black. Singh, Angus, Black and members of the BIA discussed the issues facing our downtown area and how they impact the entire city. The community leaders discussed topics like housing affordability, empty businesses in the downtown area, and the increase in homeless people in the region. They discussed staffing shortages in the city, the increasing drug addiction problems, and the need for cultural diversity in Timmins. BIA President, Jamie Roach, said it’s important for leaders in government to speak with members of the business community.

“I think the importance of having a Federal Party Leader come to, not just Timmins, but to the BIA,” Roach said, “[is that] we can voice our concerns and send those back to Ottawa.”

Roach said it was important for members of the community to have Singh’s ear, even if it’s for a short time.

“Getting his ear, even for an hour,” said Roach, “just to voice our concerns. Obviously, with the homelessness issue that we have in Timmins right now, that is front and centre. But also, it’s very, very difficult to find employees. Businesses of all sizes are struggling. And one of the solutions might be immigration. And the current setup at the Federal level is not really conducive to immigration to Northern Ontario. So we got in his ear about that and hopefully he takes those concerns back to Ottawa and we can get things moving so that we can get new Canadians to come to the North and see what we have to offer.”

Roach said it’s important for politicians to come to rural communities and hear the needs of smaller regions.

“It’s crucial for politicians, especially party leaders, to come to small communities,” said Roach, “because our issues here are different than the GTA, south of the French River. We have very different issues here.”

Singh sat down with Rogers Media yesterday and spoke about the neglect people in the North feel when it comes to government action.

“People in the North really feel neglected,” Singh said, “they feel like they’re not listened to, their concerns are ignored. And so I want to make it a part of my commitment to spend time in the North and to listen to folks in the North. So this is a part of my commitment to be in the North. That’s why I’m here in Timmins.”

Singh said the only way to remedy the neglect people in rural communities feel, is to listen to their concerns.

“The first step is to listen,” Singh said, “and the second step is to act. So, what I’m hearing a lot of is that things like the housing crisis, which people talk about a lot in Vancouver and Toronto, isn’t limited to Vancouver and Toronto. It’s actually a massive issue everywhere, including Timmins and rural and Northern communities.”

Singh said he’s focused on tackling the issues that matter to Northern Ontarians.

“So, homelessness or housing, these are concerns that actually matter to communities, other than the big urban centres that we hear about.”

Singh said the Liberal government is talking about a housing plan with  90% of the funding not being rolled out until after the next Federal election.

“So, they’re basically asking people to wait,” Singh said, “and we’re here to say people can’t wait. That is not appropriate. We need to see that money immediately, some portion of that, immediately delivered so that communities can see new houses being built and new projects being built so that we can address the crisis.”

Singh said he felt very welcomed in Timmins, especially when he landed Wednesday night and was offered a ride by three different people, offering to help him out.

“There was just this warmth and this openness of spirit and willingness to give and take care of one another,” Singh said, “I think that feeling of taking care of one another is really a strength of this community, it’s a strength of the North. It’s also a strength of Canada and I was proud to see it.”

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