Mulcair speaks at Saskatoon rally

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair made a campaign stop in Saskatoon on Monday.
 
The Opposition leader came for a rally out front of the campaign office of Saskatoon West candidate Sheri Benson.
 
Speaking to about 300 people, Mulcair repeated pledges for a national daycare program, a national prescription-drug program and improved relations between the federal government and First Nations.
 
He also took several swipes at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement recently concluded by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
 
“Stephen Harper’s secret trade deal would actually make it more expensive for (perscription) medications. It would mean tens of thousands of lost jobs. No protection for your privacy and for your personal information. Tougher for us to be able to regulate and protect the environment. That’s not things that we want,” he said.
 
Mulcair urged the audience to work hard during the last week of the campaign to get Saskatoon’s NDP candidates elected.
 
NDP supporter Peter Tartsch said Mulcair hit all the right notes with the speech. He said he’s convinced the NDP will come away as the next federal government after polls close on Oct. 19.
 
“It’s going to be history in the making here, I’m sure,” he said.
 
Longtime NDP voter Charlene  Rayner said the rally got her thinking about her mother, who went to an advance poll while in the late stages of terminal cancer.
 
“She got her oxygen tank hooked up and pushed her walker down the hall so she could vote NDP one last time,” she said.
 
After wrapping up the rally in Saskatoon with a round of selfies and autograph signing in the crowd, Mulcair was due to head to Ontario to continue campaigning there.