Malcolm Allen wants to address affordability, improve health care, serve the residents of Hamilton Mountain and continue the legacy of service of recent NDP MPs Scott Duvall and Chris Charlton. This is why he is running to be Hamilton Mountain’s next Member of Parliament. Listen to the full podcast interview below: Subscribe to The 155 Podcast on Google Play, iTunes, or by RSS in your favourite podcatcher. Joey Coleman Welcome to the 155 Podcast. I’m sitting today with Malcolm Allen who is running for the NDP, here on Hamilton mountain. We are on a patio here in beautiful Concession Street, the background noise, you can hear some passing traffic. And Malcolm, thank you for joining us today. Malcolm Allen My pleasure. You’re right about the background noise. And the interesting thing about that is, folks, you’re actually getting back out in the street, which is a good thing to see, especially for the businesses here on Concession Street. Joey Coleman It really has grown into a beautiful food district in the last couple of years. First time I’ve been up here in a while and I’m thinking wow, I got to come up here more often. The first question I have, and I think everybody does is Joey Coleman Who is Malcolm Allen? Malcolm Allen Malcolm Allen is a Scotsman by birth. I grew up in Glasgow in a working-class neighbourhood came here as a kid, I was 10. When I came here, my father came to build ships, initially in Collingwood and then in St. Catharines. Malcolm Allen I studied history and political science at university here locally in Ontario and the University of Alberta. I’m an industrial electrician by trade. I spent 30 some odd years at General Motors in St. Catharines. I was an elected union official for about 20 years, full time, representing trades workers. Eight years as the financial officer. Malcolm Allen I have a lot of experience advocating on behalf of workers when it comes to Employment Insurance and Workers’ Compensation and in a number of insurance issues. I was a municipal councillor for a period of time, almost five years, and I was the MP for what Welland and then became Niagara Center, which is basically Port Colbourne, Welland, Thorold, Wainfleet, at that time, and part of the south part of St. Catharines, for seven years. Malcolm Allen I was the agriculture critic in the Official Opposition, In the big win in 2011 under Jack Layton. Malcolm Allen Unfortunately, Jack, as many of us know, suddenly died just after that election. Malcolm Allen And of course, Tom Mulcair was the leader after that, and that election. And in 2015, in the Liberal sweep, was swept away. Malcolm Allen That’s kind of some of the stuff I’ve been doing and then some of the things that I’ve been involved in over the years. Malcolm Allen I’m presently still on the board of directors of a housing corporation called Gateway. Which is in the Niagara Peninsula. It has a number of places that we use for, basically, it is for hard to house, folks. And I’ve been on that for a number of years now, doing a great job and making sure that folks actually have a place to live. Joey Coleman And why are you running for MP here in the Hamilton Mountain riding? Malcolm Allen This riding is very similar to where I lived, and I don’t live in Welland anymore. I did have a place in Welland. I sold it a while ago. Malcolm Allen I decided I wanted to get back into politics and I made a decision that, you know, when I was looking that Hamilton Mountain was a favourable place in the sense of – it was like where I came from before. Very much sort of working-class neighbourhoods, folks who have worked hard, a lot of retirees, a lot of steelworkers. I have a lot of friends up here. It kind of seemed like a natural fit. And I got a place here now. And I intend to go forward to make this place that I live. Malcolm Allen I understand people asking that question, you know, the sense of, well, you don’t live here, well, I do live here now, I have a place here now. And eventually, I will be here all the time, in the sense of I will sell my other property. It was the family home, out in Fenwick and then come here full time. And as far as actually residing in Hamilton, or at least on the Mountain. Joey Coleman Well, you have taken the next question that I was going to ask, so I’ll rephrase it slightly, which is you’re being labelled a parachute candidate by some people. You come to my door, and I say to you, well, I’ve heard your parachute candidate. How do you respond to that? Malcolm Allen Well, that’s a political term, right. I mean, it’s bandied about usually by your opponents. But it really is about working on behalf of folks that you represent.