TORONTO - If the NDP were in power, it would make sure the economy works to the benefit of all Canadians, not just the few at the top, MP Peggy Nash said Friday as she launched her bid for the party's leadership.
The Toronto MP and NDP finance critic said choices about leadership are critical, because Canadians are living in a time of instability and volatile change.
Noting the European financial crisis, the American debt ceiling, humanitarian crises in Africa and that Canadian businesses are struggling, Nash said Canadians need a real alternative to the Conservative government.
"Small businesses including in our neighbourhood are struggling, people are losing their jobs and personal debt is higher than at any point in Canadian history," she said.
But there's hope and an appetite for reform, she said, noting she has spoken to people camped out in tents in the almost two-week-old Occupy Toronto protest in a downtown park that was spawned from the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.
"Their commitment is inspiring," Nash said.
"Their's are not vague and unfocused concerns. They arise from very real crises, crises that every one of us are facing, crises of social injustice and wild inequality, crises of the 99 per cent versus the one per cent."
With her eye already on the 2015 election, Nash said an NDP prime minister would keep the Canadian economy stable and even make it stronger.
It's already a crowded field to replace the party's late leader, Jack Layton.
Deputy leader Thomas Mulcair, former party president Brian Topp, Quebec MP Romeo Saganash, B.C. MP Nathan Cullen, Ottawa MP Paul Dewar and a little-known Nova Scotia pharmacist Martin Singh have announced their leadership bids.
