{"id":33060,"date":"2019-08-23T03:50:11","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T10:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33060"},"modified":"2019-08-22T16:03:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T23:03:06","slug":"segal-aims-for-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/08\/23\/segal-aims-for-ottawa\/","title":{"rendered":"Segal aims for Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zach Segal will represent the Conservative party in the Oct. 21 federal election in the riding of Vancouver Granville. (photo from Zach Segal)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

While Conservatives across Canada will spend the weeks leading up to the federal election reminding voters of Jody Wilson-Raybould\u2019s excoriating of her former leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, one Tory candidate will likely be downplaying the Vancouver MP\u2019s star turn before a parliamentary committee.<\/p>\n

In July, Zach Segal won the nomination to represent the Conservative party in the Oct. 21 federal election in the riding of Vancouver Granville. The incumbent, Wilson-Raybould, was elected there in 2015 and immediately was appointed minister of justice and the attorney general of Canada. In January of this year, she was shuffled to minister of veterans affairs and, less than a month later, resigned from cabinet.<\/p>\n

Wilson-Raybould was thrown out of the Liberal caucus after testifying before the House of Commons justice committee about pressure she said she experienced from the prime minister\u2019s office over an ongoing investigation into Quebec-based SNC-Lavalin, the largest construction company by revenue in Canada. The resulting scandal sent the governing Liberals tumbling in opinion polls, and they are now generally neck-and-neck with the Conservatives in most surveys. Wilson-Raybould is seeking reelection as an independent.<\/p>\n

Segal said that a vote for the incumbent is a protest vote, but that a vote for him offers the chance to change the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are upset with Justin Trudeau and you want to kick the Liberals out of Ottawa, the only way to do that is to vote for Andrew Scheer and, if you live in Vancouver Granville, to vote for Zach Segal,\u201d he told the Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The riding cuts a swath through the city, from the Fraser River almost to False Creek and roughly from West Boulevard to Cambie, also encompassing the area north of 41st Avenue west of Main Street and west of Ontario Street to 2nd Avenue. Almost all of the city\u2019s Jewish communal organizations are located in the riding and many of the city\u2019s Jewish residents live there.<\/p>\n

Segal graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2011, with a major in political science and a minor in history. He went to Ottawa on an internship arranged through the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, I was conservative-leaning, but I wasn\u2019t partisan,\u201d he said. \u201cI was certainly conservative but I wasn\u2019t affiliated like other young folks are at university.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the internship, Segal continued working with Manitoba Conservative MP James Bezan, who was parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence. He later became spokesperson for then-transport minister Lisa Raitt.<\/p>\n

When the Conservatives lost the 2015 election, Segal opted to return to Vancouver. He got a job with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which has a mandate to help Canadians access affordable housing options.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very interested in housing but still interested in the government and policy world,\u201d Segal said. \u201cI wanted to learn more about housing so I thought a job at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation would be a good opportunity because it was a Crown corporation \u2013 it wasn\u2019t part of the federal public service, it was separate \u2013 so I thought that would be a good opportunity to get into the housing world and learn more.\u201d<\/p>\n

On leave since he announced his candidacy for the nomination in the spring, Segal is part of the CMHC marketing team, publicizing programs and opportunities for nonprofits, the private sector, developers and others, such as low-interest loans.<\/p>\n

Faced with a splintered group of candidates in what will probably be one of the most closely watched races in the country, Segal is confident he can win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think I can actually win and I think that\u2019s the most important thing,\u201d he said, adding that the agenda in the city has largely been dominated by the left.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to show that maybe we have some conservative solutions to some of these big problems that Vancouver is facing,\u201d he said. \u201cMy big issues are all packaged into one. I think they all go together. I think everyone\u2019s very interested in housing, in transportation, affordability and the economy. If we can solve transportation infrastructure, maybe it could help reduce pressure on housing because we could build further out and, if we could grow our economy and have better opportunities, people here could make more money and that would solve some of the issues around affordability. Certainly housing, I think we need to look at different ways of solving this, rather than the current proposals. Vancouver\u2019s average wages are some of the lowest in Canada but we have some of the highest average home prices in Canada. I think that\u2019s where one of the problems lies. We need to start looking at how we can grow our whole economy, and Vancouver subsequently, with better jobs and higher wages.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his four years in Ottawa equip him to be an effective MP.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have this idea that, if you\u2019re on the backbench, you can\u2019t do anything, but the MP I worked for was so diligent and committed to issues that he was able to bring them to the floor of the House of Commons,\u201d said Segal. \u201cHe was constantly tabling motions, private member\u2019s bills, he was constantly getting his foot in the door of the prime minister\u2019s office and he made sure that, even though he was a backbencher, he got all these prominent issues to the forefront of public policy. That was very inspiring. It\u2019s a good message that you can accomplish things as a member of Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Jewish candidate, Segal has been hearing from voters that they respected former prime minister Stephen Harper\u2019s approach to Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cJews and non-Jews alike tell me that they deeply respected how Stephen Harper and the Conservative government stood up for Israel on the world stage,\u201d he said. \u201cThey just liked seeing a politician stand on principle and not be bullied and stand up \u2013 quite frankly \u2013 stand up to the world, stand up to the UN. People really liked seeing that and I think they like leaders who show their true colours, and want to see that back in Ottawa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Segal, who attended Richmond Jewish Day School and graduated from Steveston High, went to Israel on a Birthright trip in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always know Israel is small but, until you\u2019re there and you travel the country in a short period of time, you don\u2019t realize how small it is,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen people talk about Israel\u2019s security concerns, it\u2019s not just a platitude. It\u2019s a tiny country. When you visit Israel, you take tours of the Golan Heights. You can see Hezbollah outposts. Now, if you are there, you can see maybe even ISIS outposts in Syria. It\u2019s this remarkable, tiny country, this outpost of vibrancy and Western democracy that somehow is bordering some of the most extreme elements of the world right there on its border and you really appreciate its security concerns being there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back on local doorsteps, Segal said voters are asking whether they can trust their leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey see Justin Trudeau taking care of his friends. He had this big gift to Loblaws for retrofitting some fridges and they\u2019re taking care of Irving and SNC, but, if you\u2019re a small business owner, you\u2019re left to fend for yourself,\u201d said Segal.<\/p>\n

In addition to Segal and Wilson-Raybould, Vancouver Granville voters will consider the Liberal candidate, tech entrepreneur and investor Teleeb Noormohamed, the NDP\u2019s Yvonne Hanson, a climate activist, and Green candidate Louise Boutin, a realtor. The fledgling People\u2019s Party of Canada has nominated Naomi Chocyk, who, at one point, was employed as a constituency assistant in Wilson-Raybould\u2019s office. More candidates could enter the race before the close of the writ period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zach Segal will represent the Conservative party in the Oct. 21 federal election in the riding of Vancouver Granville. (photo from Zach Segal) While Conservatives across Canada will spend the weeks leading up to the federal election reminding voters of Jody Wilson-Raybould\u2019s excoriating of her former leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, one Tory candidate will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3157,8082,3249,4147,9225],"class_list":["post-33060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-canada","tag-conservative-party","tag-elections","tag-vancouver-granville","tag-zach-segal"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}