Liberal candidate touts housing, relations with Aboriginal groups
“We really need is to work with these communities to understand their objectives”
This week, Nunatsiaq News is running profiles of major party candidates running in the upcoming federal election, including four who are vying for the Abitibi-James Bay-Nunavik-Eeyou seat. We will run them in alphabetical order.
First up is Pierre Dufour, the Liberal candidate, who says his party will bring much-needed infrastructure and housing to Quebec’s northernmost regions, if they form a government after Oct. 19.
As part of the party’s campaign, the Liberals have announced investments of $20 billion over 10 years towards social infrastructure.
That includes $125 million in tax incentives each year to build and renovate what the party calls “affordable” housing for low-income Canadians over the next five years.
It’s a plan Dufour says will directly benefit Nunavimmiut and other communities in the riding who rely largely on social housing.
“[Overcrowding] and a lack of housing is a real problem,” Dufour said in a September interview with Nunatsiaq News.
“And it’s not just the role of the province or private industry, it’s also the role of the federal government.”
As many politicians do, Dufour waited until his children, aged 18 and 20, were fully grown before deciding to run for public office.
A licensed travel agent who owns a travel agency with family, Dufour spent the last seven years as director general for the local development centre (Centre local de développement) in Val d’Or, which supports economic development and local entrepreneurs.
It’s from that viewpoint that Dufour says he’s gathered a clear picture of the unique needs and challenges faced by communities in Quebec’s northernmost riding.
Resource development — namely mining — have been the major industry to move into the region in recent years.
The private sector plays an important role in bringing infrastructure to northern and remote communities, Dufour said, and he supports that development, so long as communities play a role.
“We have to work with collaboration in these communities,” he said. “When these projects are done in harmony with the community and the project leader, it can be a very good thing.”
The end goal, he says, should be to bring prosperity to communities, like those in Nunavik, which offer few jobs.
Dufour says it’s also his intention, if elected as MP, to respond to the issues raised by the Nutrition North Canada subsidy program and ensure the riding’s most remote communities have access to affordable food.
“It’s not a bad program at its base, but there haven’t been rules in place to ensure the retailer doing its job,” he said.
Although the current government has made some tweaks to the program this year, Dufour said he would make it a priority to address outstanding problems.
“What’s important is that Aboriginal communities have access to the things they need to live well,” Dufour said. “Food is a critical example.”
The Liberal platform includes a number of measures to support Canada’s Indigenous communities, including what it calls a “nation-to-nation process” on how to address and prioritize issues flagged by First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities.
The party has pledged to implement recommendations that came from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report.
“We really need to work with these communities to understand what their objectives are,” Dufour said. “It shouldn’t be decided by a bunch of white people.
“What Aboriginal groups are trying to do is to stop [governments] from taking those decisions themselves,” he added. “There’s a will right now to work on this.”
Although Dufour has never visited Nunavik, he said his work with the local economic development centre has made him familiar with communities across the riding, and their developmental needs and challenges.
“It allowed me to discover the region,” he said. “But I’ll be ready to listen, ready to help.”
As part of revisions to the federal ridings in Canada, Abitibi-James Bay-Nunavik-Eeyou took on three new communities in its southwest corner, adding about 800 new voters.
The riding was last represented by a Liberal from 1997 to 2004, when it was held by Guy St-Julien.
Tomorrow, we feature Luc Ferland of the Bloc Québecois.
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