Chris Frazer, Communist Party of Canada candidate
One candidate running in the upcoming election has lost all faith in landlords.
Chris Frazer, a university professor and Communist Party candidate for Central Nova, believes income disparity is causing people in the riding to be marginalized.
“We need rent control,” he says. “I also think we need socialized housing. I don’t think we can trust landlords anymore.”
People are increasingly struggling to afford skyrocketing rents in places like Antigonish, Frazer points out.
When people can’t afford rent in the community, they move to the outskirts, putting them further away from social services, resources and the community. This becomes especially problematic for people who can’t drive, Frazer says.
“St. Martha’s Hospital can be pretty hard to get to if you haven’t got a car,” Frazer says.
Frazer wants to see rent control put in place until permanent low-cost socialized housing is available.
Another big item in the Communist Party’s platform is free post-secondary education.
As a professor, Frazer says he sees the impact of crippling tuition fees daily. The problem lies with governments who keep decreasing taxation rates for corporations, meaning less money gets transferred from the government to universities for operating costs, Frazer says.
“Who’s making up the difference? Students.”
He points out that without tuition fees — which often run students close to or more than $10,000 each school year, students would be able to use the money in the community and contribute to the economy.
The money would be better spent at local businesses, Frazer says. When businesses are making money, he says, it triggers a chain reaction. Businesses make more money, so they hire employees and pay better wages, meaning more people could afford the cost of housing.
