On Apr. 28, Canadians across the country will take to the polls to vote in this defining snap federal election. Jules Côté, 20, a second-year Political Science student is running as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the riding of Mission-Abbotsford-Matsqui. Côté met with The Cascade amid her election campaign to speak about her start in politics, policy, and the NDP’s trajectory.
At the age of 16, Côté began attending the farmers’ rights protests that occupied much of South Fraser Way at Clearbrook in 2021 and 2022. The protests, which were a reaction from the South Asian diaspora in the Fraser Valley, opposed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, who sought to pull support for farmers.
“I had felt, in much the same way that many Canadian farmers felt, abandoned by our government. Especially the [South Asian] farmers who had been abandoned by their government, [they] needed our support and our solidarity. And at that point, the only federal party that I saw even speaking about the issue was the NDP; that really got me inspired to get involved with them.”
Côté built on the inspiration she garnered from the protests, putting her ideas into policy writing, which then opened a few doors for her.
“I started writing policy papers. Actually, my first one let me meet the Mayor of Abbotsford [Henry Braun]. He wanted to talk about one of my policy papers on Housing First. And then from there we moved on to [Premier] David Eby, who was the housing minister at the time. From there, I started volunteering with the federal NDP and the provincial NDP after that.”
That passion for policy is crucial, as Côté, if elected as MP, will be bringing policy proposals to the House of Commons. She aligns herself with the NDP’s commitments to put Canadians before corporations.
“The NDP wants to introduce a bill to ban corporations from buying up affordable homes. As well, I want to introduce legislation to essentially reform the Competition Act, [which] as it stands, really only exists to prevent corporations from doing anything that explicitly harms competition. But I would like to change the standards [so] that the Competition Bureau can break up any market concentration or oligopoly where it finds it. So many of our markets have become so concentrated, particularly when it comes to the food system. Much of our food processing is done by just a few corporations.”
At the time of writing, the CBC poll tracker has the Liberals leading at 43.6 per cent, with the Conservatives trailing behind by just 5.9 per cent. With an election this tight, voters feel pulled to vote strategically between the two front runners, but Côté is optimistic that the pendulum will swing.
“The NDP has dipped fairly low in seat count before and we’ve been able to build ourselves back up in much the same way. A lot of Canadians are concerned about the threat of the trade war, which is understandable. But a lot of Canadians who would otherwise vote New Democrat are unfortunately feeling as though they have no choice but to vote Liberal. Once we get ourselves back into a position where Canadians feel that they can truly express their opinions and they’re not just simply voting out of fear, then I think the NDP will be in a much better position to advocate for ourselves in our policy.”
Taking three classes while running a campaign, Côté spoke to her experience this semester as a full-time student.
“One of the courses I’m in right now is Public Policy with [Dr.] Noah Schwartz. He’s been very understanding and very informative when it comes to public policy. I’ve actually been able to use a lot of things that we’ve talked about in his course in my work.”
The average age of an MP in the House of Commons is 53, as reported by the Parliament of Canada in 2021, with 30 per cent of seats held by women. Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark, have some of the youngest parliamentarians in the world, and representation of youth is an important part of a healthy democracy. Côté debunked some myths when it comes to getting involved in electoral politics.
“It’s much, much easier than folks anticipate. You can sign up to volunteer with any party and you don’t have to be a citizen either … There’s definitely a lot of opportunity for folks to get involved, and if you are not necessarily interested in electoral politics — if your views and values don’t align with any political party — you can always get involved with other political organizations.”
Kiara Okonkwo is a writer and creative. She received a diploma in Screenwriting from Vancouver Film School and is pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Media and Communication Studies. Kiara values self-expression and authenticity.
