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The Masters student is a New Democratic candidate in the upcoming federal elections.
Seamus Fleming, 22, is studying rural cycling and political farmers at the University of Ottawa, is a challenger to two-time conservative Congressman Dave Epp, who has been riding since 2019.
Postmedia has interviewed with EPP.
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Liberal leader Mark Carney is scheduled to stop in Windsor, London and Windsor on Wednesday to bypass Chatham-Kent-Leamington, and has yet to nominate a liberal candidate on Wednesday morning.
Canada’s Green Party and BJP served as candidates in the last election and have not yet selected the standard person.
Fleming admitted he wasn’t riding a horse, but said his family was from Leamington. He plans to move with his relatives when he is elected.
He said the threat of U.S. tariffs was one of the reasons why he ran here.
“I want to make sure that if any industry is subsidized to bear tariffs, we need to make sure there are no layoffs,” he said.
Other big issues, Fleming said, are housing, grocery prices and health care.
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“Like what happened after World War II, we need to quickly build housing that working families can buy,” he said.
Public health care needs to be improved. He added that it includes expanding coverage of medicinal elephants and dental.
“They’re touting through these policies by liberals, but they do hesitate, and it’s not without the NDP fight,” Fleming said.
He also called for a cap on grocery prices and abolishing federal sales tax.
“The working people are the backbone of the economy, not collateral damage,” he said.
Fleming, currently a master’s student and teaching assistant, said he worked through high school and college in union grocery stores and two warehouses in two warehouses, including Amazon.
“Working union jobs and bad non-union shops inspired me to participate in the work of the NDP,” he said.
He said Fleming was involved in the political process, including serving as a Parliament Hill intern. His research on legislation on dental care, medication care and expanding free breast cancer testing “helped a little”
He also added that he has created tenant guidelines for those facing illegal evictions and helped advocate for affordable housing in the area.
“I’m proud to say I won some problems,” he said.
The federal election is April 28. This is the first federal election, with the all-new Chatham-Kent-Leamington riding boundary occupying the entire Chatham-Kent.
eshreve@postmedia.com
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