Know your candidate: Peter Julian, New Westminster- Burnaby

We asked each candidate for a virtual sit-down interview, followed by a short segment recorded on video. Not all candidates were available to appear on video or agreed to do so. The Beacon will post the segments with the candidates who did appear on video on our social media channels.

Candidate: Peter Julian, NDP

Riding: New Westminster-Burnaby (Incumbent). Read more about the riding here.

NDP candidate Peter Julian has held on to the riding of New Westminster-Burnaby since it was first established in 2008. He previously served as the MP for the riding of Burnaby-New Westminster since its creation in 2004.

Despite his long-time winning streak, Julian told Burnaby Beacon that he doesn’t consider the riding a stronghold.

“I consider that I have an obligation to go out and work as hard as I can for my constituents each and every day,” he said.

If re-elected, here’s what Julian plans to prioritize for the constituents in his riding.

TMX

The Beacon asked Julian about NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s stance on the TMX pipeline.  Although he has skirted around the question in the past, Singh told Burnaby Beacon in August that he would cancel the expansion project. When asked about what he would do with the government-owned pipeline itself, Singh said there were a lot of unknowns and “we’ll have to get into government and assess all the details of the asset before we can make a determination.”

Julian said he is “very clear” the NDP is “absolutely opposed” to the expansion project.

He pointed to the petition against the pipeline he started in April, which called on the federal government to invest in clean, renewable energy sources that create good quality, long-lasting jobs for today’s workers and the next generation.”

Julian said the petition collected over 5,000 signatures which shows that “people obviously feel keenly about the issue.” He also submitted motion M-94 in June to immediately halt the expansion of the TMX pipeline.

Julian pointed to the financial impact of the expansion project, which has exceeded initial estimates from the federal government in 2018.

“The PBO [Parliamentary Budgetary Officer] was able to determine that we had spent far more than we should have to buy the company and that construction costs are escalating. And at the same time, there’s no financial liability in this project, it will always lose money. So Mr.Trudeau’s pretension [that] somehow the profits from the pipeline will actually serve to create clean energy is simply false.”

Ultimately, Julian said the pipeline’s overall environmental impact and the lack of its economic viability are “key concerns.”

As for what to do with the existing asset, Julian said he agrees with Singh “on the idea that it has to be evaluated.”

Pharmacare

Julian and the NDP are proponents of creating a universal Pharmacare program.

Julian introduced Bill C-213 (the Canada Pharmacare Act), a private member’s bill aimed at setting a legal framework allowing the federal government to negotiate financial arrangements with the provinces and territories to establish a universal Pharmacare plan.

The bill was defeated in the House of Commons during its second reading by a vote of 295-32 in February 2021.

Julian told Burnaby Beacon that “the bill has to be brought back immediately” noting that Canada is the only industrialized country that has universal healthcare without some kind of universal drug coverage.

“The Pharmacare Act has to be immediately reintroduced because that’s the legislative underpinning for … putting in place universal pharmacare,” he said. “So we’re certainly not going to give up for a number of reasons.”

Housing

The NDP’s housing plan includes a $5,000 renters’ subsidy, which has been criticized for being a short-term solution that puts more money into the pockets of landlords and leads to a rent hike. Julian stated rent subsidies “are essential.”

“The reality is, if we put in place a process where rents cannot be raised … unduly and that’s the case in most provinces—not all provinces, [but] most provinces—then that rent subsidy makes a huge difference for people who are struggling to pay their rent,” said Julian.

He added that more needs to be done to increase supply for affordable homes. The NDP’s plan proposes $14 billion be allocated to build 500,000 affordable housing units over the next 10 years, with half of that to be completed in the next 5 years. It is also pledging “fast-start funds” to speed up the application process for non-profit and co-op housing.

For first-time home buyers, the party promises to reintroduce 30-year terms of the CMHC insured mortgages on entry-level homes to allow for smaller monthly payments.

“I live in a house that was built in 1948. It’s one of 300,000 homes that were built by the federal government right after the Second World War. We had in place a wealth tax, we had in place an excess profits tax. And we were able to use that to build 300,000 units of affordable housing across the country in 3 years,” said Julian.

“And the reality is if we actually have in place a fair tax system, and the wealthy billionaires and the banks are actually finally paying their fair share of taxes, we do have the financial ability to have the federal government weigh in with an ambitious housing program.”

Indigenous rights

On Indigenous rights, Julian said, “the NDP caucus has been front and center in terms of responding at the size and scale that is necessary of the horrific genocide that we saw in residential schools.”

Julian said he feels in order to bring “true, meaningful, and lasting reconciliation,” Canadians must recognize a “genocide happened.”

Within his own constituency, Julian said he is in regular contact with Chief Rhonda Larrabee of the Qayqayt First Nation in New Westminster and other Indigenous leaders in the community.