This is one of several profiles on the main candidates running in the Victoria riding in the 2021 federal election.
Biomedical researcher-turned-law student and now MP hopeful Nick Loughton wasn’t expecting his name to be on the federal ballot when this year began.
Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 2, the Green Party candidate for Victoria said he is motivated to solve big problems and could no longer stand by and watch his generation bear the brunt of political inaction.
For Loughton, the big three parties are all talk on combating climate change, creating more housing and improving health care. He’s fed up with the Liberals after six years of not fulfilling their promises and the NDP for not pushing government hard enough since 2019.
“We’re going to stand up for change that would dramatically reduce our carbon emissions, that’s going to actually increase the number of the affordable housing units in this country and ending the skyrocketing cost of living,” Loughton said.
He said Greens are “tenacious” workers once they get into Parliament and would leverage a minority government by not supporting budgets that don’t adequately support climate action or fail to make progress on universal pharmacare.
Loughton said Canadians are saying ‘no’ to the status quo.
“It’s not good enough to subsidize massive amounts of fossil fuels, it’s not good enough to continue destroying old-growth forests in British Columbia, it’s not good enough to increase tanker traffic off the coast, it’s not good enough for a one-bedroom apartment in Victoria to cost $1,700 a month.”
READ: Who are your Greater Victoria candidates?
Neither the B.C. NDP or the feds have delivered on building enough new housing in Victoria, Loughton said. He wants to see more public and private sector partnerships that would kickstart the construction of missing-middle and cooperative housing projects.
“I can’t sleep under a strategy, I need a roof over my head,” he said. “The Greens will fight for the rights of the people who live here to have safe, supportive and affordable housing.”
Increasing density in downtown Victoria and the surrounding area is part of Loughton’s solution. He points to cities like Paris and Barcelona where low-rise apartments stacked on shops and commercial spaces foster culturally vibrant communities.
Another goal for Loughton is to undo the eroding of the middle class over the last half-century and he wants to create a society where people can once again accumulate wealth through hard work and “sweat equity.”
He said his vision isn’t just possible, it’s needed.
“We can and will demand better from our politicians and we will get to a place where we can have a comprehensive universal health-care system, where we can reverse this trend of increasing wealth inequality in this country and we can protect and secure our environment.”
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