The leader of the federal NDP, Jagmeet Singh, will be back in Victoria this weekend for the second time since September.
Singh will be in town for the biennial BC NDP convention, which is to be held at Crystal Gardens Conference Centre.
This is the largest gathering of NDP MLAs and often, many MPs who represent the party show face as well.
Notably, this will be Premier David Eby’s first BC NDP convention as the Province’s leader and this will be the first in-person iteration of the event since the COVID-19 pandemic.
At its core, the convention is meant to be a weekend of policy discussions, training sessions, celebrating achievements and getting organized for the next provincial election taking place in fall, next year.
Singh will be attending many of the numerous talks and conferences within the convention and will be addressing the BC NDPs on Sunday morning.
His main focus will be the federal fall economic statement that is to come out next week.
This statement will outline the Liberal government’s spending until the next quarterly budget is released.
Singh has long advocated for spending to be syphoned toward helping people navigate the current cost-of-living landscape and finding affordable housing.
Premier Eby and Singh are aligned with those spending intentions and those topics will likely be centrepieces of the BC NDP convention.
Another topic that is yet to be determined if it will come up is climate change and how to switch to clean energy sources.
During the convention’s events, on Saturday, November 18th, a group of environmental activists are planning on setting up outside the conference centre to protest the use of fracking in BC as a means of obtaining LNG.
This demonstration is occurring because a resolution to end fracking in BC was reportedly tabled and will not be discussed.
This anti-fracking rally will be taking place from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday morning.
Following the convention, Singh is flying out back to Ottawa on Monday.
