Singh: Appointing Private Banker for the 1% to the Senate Sends Clear Message

Jagmeet Singh, Leader of Canada’s NDP, issued the following statement:

"While Canadians are finding it harder than ever to make ends meet, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals keep focusing on making life easier for the richest. Today, Justin Trudeau, once again, showed whose side he’s on by appointing a senior person in the banking sector, Tony Loffreda, to the Senate. It’s simple: his priority is working for the richest, not for the rest of us.
In his former job, Trudeau’s new Senator focused on “high net worth” and “affluent” individuals such as corporate executives, heirs, and Canada’s richest families, to help them to pay as little tax as possible. The richest are already well represented in the Senate and after a report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer concluded that big corporations and the richest are avoiding paying more than $25 billion a year in taxes, it has become clear that Canadians need legislators that will fight to make the richest pay their fair share so we can invest in services people rely on and in programs that improve all of our lives.
Appointing a new Senator in the dead of summer, before an election, is a sign the Prime Minister sees this as a way to help the richest and big corporations, rather than something he is proud to advertise to Canadians.
Compared to Justin Trudeau, our New Deal for People is taking Canadians’ needs seriously by making the richest pay their fair share to make life for working people and families more affordable and to fight the climate crisis.
We will expand health care to better cover Canadians, starting with implementing a universal public pharmacare plan. We will ensure that Canadians have access to affordable housing, child care, education, cellphone and internet services, and we will implement concrete and bold solutions to address the climate crisis that will create new jobs and make big polluters pay."