Politics in Ottawa should be a little more real.
That from Charlie Angus who is going after Tom Muclair’s job.
The Timmins-James Bay MP says he talks to people who tell him Ottawa does not reflect their reality which is a lot of people who contract jobs and burdened with student debt.
Angus is a musician who spent many years touring the country with the band L’Etranger.
We asked him how that experience plays a role in his political life and he tells us he learned the value of hard work from his dad who joined the middle class in his 40’s after going back to school to become an Economics professor.
He says the Prime Minister speaks about the mythical middle class but he says the middle class has been eroded away after years of policies that favour those doing well and leave the rest of us getting by.
Angus says he heard the Prime Minister talks of repairing the relationship with First Nations but they seems to think happy tweets will cause change but in his riding kids are dying every day from underfunded programs and a lack of access to mental health services.
Fellow NDP MP’s Peter Julian and Guy Caron are also running for the party leadership.
