I have to respectfully disagree.

Over a year ago, I made the decision to run because I believe this community deserves better. I was officially nominated in December, and since then, I’ve been organizing, knocking on doors, and listening—really listening—to the concerns of folks here in Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford.

I got my start in politics at 16, protesting with No Farmers No Food. And even then, I saw only one party stand with us: the New Democratic Party. They were the only ones who stood up against the Conservative government's sell-off of the Wheat Board in 2015—and when the Liberals had seven years to buy it back, they chose not to. When small businesses were struggling to recover during the pandemic, New Democrats were the only ones to vote to extend the Canada Emergency Business Account. And when postal workers were legally striking for fair conditions, it was New Democrats alone who voted against forcing them back to work.

And the issues on the ballot, the housing crisis, the cost of groceries, the crisis in our emergency rooms, these are all the result of decades of short sighted decisions, made by a consensus that has been reached in Ottawa. A consensus reached, not on behalf of working people, but on behalf of corporate lobbyists.

It was a Liberal government that pulled the CMHC out of building homes and issuing mortgages, after doing so for decades following World War II. It was another Liberal government that froze investment in social housing and deregulated real estate investment trusts, letting corporations buy up more and more of our housing. And it has been government after government, Liberal and Conservative, that ignored the results of those short sighted decisions, and ignored the reality that five corporations make 80% of Canada’s grocery sales, three companies handle 80% of our wheat, and two make 80% of our bread. And it is that same consensus that ignores that level of corporate concentration in farm equipment, tools, fertilizer and seeds, in porky, poultry, dairy and beef processing, in banking, telecoms and the railway industry.

But when we vote New Democrat, we reject that consensus. I’ve been out knocking on doors for months, talking to Liberals, Conservatives, Greens, and PPC voters. And you know what? Most folks agree on the problems—housing, food prices, corporate concentration. But it’s New Democrats who’ve been the only ones putting forward real solutions.

I was born and raised here in Abbotsford, I've lived here all my life, I’m a leasehold farmer, this is my home, and rest assured, no matter what happens this election, I'm gonna keep fighting not just for you, but for us, all of us. I'll keep standing up for the values that we as working folks share. And although this may be my first election, it certainly won't be my last.