NDP leadership hopeful discusses issues during stop in Lethbridge

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on February 13, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Sarah Hoffman, former deputy premier with the New Democratic Party, has entered the race for the party’s leadership position and was in Lethbridge Monday to speak to party members.
“I’m going to work my tail off,” promised Hoffman. “I’m an unapologetic New Democrat, I think that we need to apply those NDP values of taking care of one another and making sure that we apply that NDP lens to healthcare, to housing, and to the climate crisis.”
Hoffman said she takes climate extremely seriously and she believes many Albertans do as well, and she recalled her experience knocking on doors and talking to Albertans about it during the wildfire season last year.
“People were deeply concerned that their kids couldn’t play outside without taking risks to their own health because the air was unsafe, or people who had to have go-bags packed just in case the fires got a little bit closer.”
She said Albertans want solutions on climate. She said they know the federal government took over the consumer-based carbon tax and they broke it.
“They broke it when they decided to pick winners and losers on the East Coast. It wasn’t fair. There is no confidence in this model anymore, so we need real leadership and I believe in the polluter pay principle, and I think that if large profitable corporations are taking carbon out of the earth, we can also hold them accountable to take it out of the atmosphere.”
When asked about her inspiration to run for the leadership position, Hoffman told reporters she has been a New Democrat for quite some time, and while serving as a deputy premier for Rachel Notley for eight years, she believed Notley assigned her that role because she was not afraid to stand up for her values and push back.
“I think now it’s a chance for me to get to know the membership and get to know people who are member prospects all across the province, model that hard work and that commitment to take care of one another.”
She also recalled when she was the Minister of Health for the four years the NDP were in government, how they brought a lot of solutions including expanding care in Lethbridge to the folks who need it.

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