In the fourth of five “Home Office” conversations with party leaders, Huddle editor Mark Leger speaks with NDP leader Mackenzie Thomason about working in the hotel industry and what it teaches him about paying New Brunswickers adequately for the work they do. Mackenzie also talks about the dangers of concentrated corporate power and how he does door-to-door campaigning in a safe, respectful way for voters.
Mackenzie is campaigning for things like a higher minimum wage and stronger support programs for low-wage earners. He says his work in the hotel industry in Fredericton puts him in close contact with people who earn much less than the typical person who gets into politics.
“A lot of our politicians have been lawyers and engineers and CEOs and business people who have worked in corporate New Brunswick pretty much their whole life,” says Mackenzie.
“When you get the perspective of somebody who works in an area that’s predominantly female, primarily minimum wage-based; when you get those perspectives I think it’s far better for the people of New Brunswick … that’s the overwhelming majority, people who are working minimum wage, people who are living paycheque to paycheque.
As he campaigns across the province, Mackenzie has found a creative way to do door-to-door campaigning without making people feel unsafe.
“I invested in a metre stick, so what I’ve been doing so far is, if I know somebody is home, I will ring the doorbell with a metre stick to make sure I’m maintaining that distance and I always have PPE so I’m wearing a mask, gloves and have hand sanitizer…People are happy that we’re trying and they’re happy with the protocols we have in place and obviously there are a couple of people who say, ‘sorry I don’t want to open the door,’ and that’s fine. We are in the middle of a pandemic.”
Listen to the interview with Mackenzie in the player above or one of many podcast platforms.
The Huddle “Home Office” podcast, available on Spotify, Google Play, and Apple podcast platforms, features conversations with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia community leaders, entrepreneurs, analysts and Huddle reporters about the issues and events that accelerate and enrich the growth of the region’s economy and culture.
Other podcasts in this series:
- Why David Coon Is Campaigning For A Green ‘Minority’ Government In N.B.
- Why Kris Austin Believes Minority Government Is Good For Business In New Brunswick
- Kevin Vickers On Economic Growth, Progressive Social Change And Morning Runs
This story was originally published by Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
