Name: Scott Stewart
Party: NDP
Profession: Retired police officer,
currently a small business owner
Education: Diploma
Achievements: Canada Decoration with two bars, two Police Board Commendations for bravery
Theme Song: Tomorrow (Annie)
Three Priorities: 1. Protect Richmondís environment. 2. Improve affordable housing in Richmond. 3. Treat Canadaís veterans with dignity and respect.
Scott Stewart, while out knocking on doors and meeting the public during his campaign, feels there are more undecided voters than he’s ever known in the run-up to a federal election.
“This may go down to the last ballot box,” said the NDP’s Richmond-Steveston candidate Stewart, when the News called to ask him to elaborate on his three priorities.
On his pledge to “work tirelessly” to protect the environment in Richmond, Stewart said the federal government needs to study, in more detail, the potential effects of development, specifically on or around the Fraser River, before any major decisions are made.
“Proper, rigorous and independent environmental studies need to be carried out. Mr. Mulcair has promised to bring more federal studies back in; but those studies have to be independent, otherwise it’s a case of the fox guarding the hen house.”
On his affordable housing promise, Stewart said his party would implement its “national housing strategy,” which equates to $2 billion in funding for co-ops and social housing by 2020.
Stewart couldn’t offer specifically where that $2 billion was coming from, but added the key was in finding “stable funding” and offering incentives to builders.
On Canada’s war veterans, Stewart said they’ve been “ill-treated” for too long by previous governments and if the NDP is elected, it will support the veterans and their families with a $454 million investment over four years.
“We would return the funding to Veterans Affairs that’s been dipped into by previous governments,” said Stewart.
“Applications to Veterans Affairs take a horrendous length of time and that has to change.”
