Canada Votes: NDP Candidate Cory Grizz Longley

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

Federal NDP candidate Cory Grizz Longley has lived in Dawson Creek since 2001, where he worked as a TV and radio broadcaster and later became a licenced plumber and gas fitter. He also served as president for CUPE local 2403 representing the City of Dawson Creek, and served in the Naval Reserve.

His time as a labour union president has given him experience in chairing meetings and ` advocating for workers at the bargaining table, Longley said.

“If I take on a job for somebody, you know it’s going to get done and you know it’s going to get done well.”

Running for: healthcare, labour, LGBTQ+ rights

Longley says he has been frustrated by incumbent MP Bob Zimmer’s voting record on LGBTQ+ rights, labour issues and healthcare.  In 2020, Zimmer was one of seven MPs to vote against a bill banning conversion therapy in Canada, and he supported legislation ending the Canada Post strike – two decisions which Longley said he disagrees with.

Affordable healthcare and supporting strong labour unions are two issues which Longley feels are important.

“The NDP are the ones out there making sure scab legislation gets through so that good, strong union jobs are secure,” Longley said. “Union jobs are what raise the tide for every worker in this country… Those are things that matter to my family and to the people that I love, and I want that for everybody.”

Longley believes federal NDP representatives have been effective in implementing positive healthcare legislation despite only having 24 seats in Parliament last term. For example, the NDP successfully advocated for diabetes medications to be covered by pharmacare, he said.

“Imagine what we could do with 100 [seats],” Longley said. “We would change the future of this country. We would make it better for everybody that lives in this country, from people that are on social security to old people that are living on pensions, to families that are having a hard time right now.”

Policy Priorities

Longley hopes to replace the first-past-the-post electoral system with a system of proportional representation – one vote for each person. He said he voted Liberal in 2015 based on Trudeau’s promise to reform the first-past-the-post system and was disappointed when the reform did not come to pass.

“If you look at all the leadership campaigns and contests that occur internally, the party votes are not first-past-the-post,” Longley said. “They use a better system, proportional representation. If it’s good enough for the parties inside, why is it not good enough for the rest of us unwashed people?”

However, Longley added that he understands that his first few months in Parliament would involve a lot of training and relationship-building. He said he would spend the first 100 days of his term networking with senior bureaucrats and talking to representatives of other parties to find common ground.

“I would totally be willing, and want to make some friends across the aisle, because that’s how you do things – you do it by consensus,” Longley said. “I’m a big bargainer. That’s what the NDP is about. If I can do that and make things better in my riding, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

What he’s heard in the Robson Valley

Longley says concerns about U.S. encroachment on Canada is one of the top concerns he’s heard from voters in the Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies riding. 

“I agree with the people that I’m talking to at their door [who] are saying to me that they don’t want to be the 51st state,” he said. “We’re proud to be Canadian, and we’re ready to go elbows up.”

He added that healthcare – especially for seniors – is another priority for his voters.

“Everybody ages – that’s what happens,” he said. “The NDP have shown that we can do business on that one, even with two parties that are unwilling to do it.”

Helping small communities navigate big issues

Longley says rural voters’ concerns are important to him, and he would look to strengthen the Canadian agriculture industry by developing new trading partners. He added that he supports Canadian energy industries, and would advocate to make sure that energy producers give back to the communities where they are based.

Climate change affects communities big and small, Longley said, and he would work to help communities prepare for and recover from climate change emergencies.

“I would definitely be voting for any means that would help communities recover from disasters – to me, that’s a no-brainer,” Longley said. “We need to be making sure that we look after our neighbours, especially after a calamity like a wildfire or flood.”

Closing remarks

Longley says he has faith in NDP leadership to advocate in the best interests of working Canadians.

“The NDP are the conscience of the people. They’re the conscience of the workers, and we’re the ones that pay the taxes,” Longley said. “If you’re going to throw your lot in with somebody, it might as well be somebody… that you’re going to be in lockstep with, somebody that you trust to have your back, and that’s not going to stab you. The NDP are the party that represents the working people.”

Longley added that he is a hard worker who will take the responsibility of representing his riding seriously.

“I promise you, solemnly, that I will represent you to the best of my ability in Ottawa for this beautiful riding that we live in,” he said. “I am an alternative to ten years of nothing… I would like to get in there, show some gumption and enthusiasm, maybe even introduce a law or two, and try to get the best that I possibly can done for our region.”