COQUITLAM, B.C -- NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he would expand domestic manufacturing capacity and invest in small businesses.
Singh was visiting Novo Textiles in Coquitlam, B.C., which he said was the first Canadian company to manufacture N95 masks.
He says when the pandemic hit Canada was caught "flat-footed" without a domestic supply of personal protective equipment, and he pledged to develop an industrial strategy to encourage and expand Canadian manufacturing capacity.
But the announcement comes without dollar figures or many specifics, and when pressed, Singh spoke about having an aggressive strategy to support companies looking to expand domestically and investing in those businesses.
The NDP's 115-page plan talks about streamlining access to government export services and giving small and medium-sized businesses a single point of contact to ease regulatory burdens.
Singh's visit to the factory was in the riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam, which the NDP captured in 2015 but narrowly lost to the Conservatives in the last election.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2021.
