Malabar representing Grits in Elmwood-Transcona

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/10/2019 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jennifer Malabar is the Liberal Party candidate for Elmwood-Transcona in the Oct. 21 federal election.

Malabar, a 45-year-old former Crown attorney, decided to put her name on the ballot out of concern for the environment.

“I have two young children, and I am terrified of the earth we are going to end up leaving them if we don’t do something now,” Malabar said. “I don’t think we have any time left to waste. The science is pretty clear that we don’t have any time to waste.”

Malabar acknowledged that the Liberal Trudeau government has drawn criticism from environmentalists over the last four years, particularly followings its decision to purchase the Trans Mountain Pipeline from Texas-based oil and gas giant Kinder Morgan. 

“I won’t say that the Liberals have done a perfect job on the environment file,” she said. “But I’m a realist. We know that the Conservatives did nothing on the environment for 10 years, and that the Liberals are doing something.”

Malabar said that, if elected, she would make it a priority to advance progressive environmental policy within the Liberal caucus.

“I can speak with my fellow caucus members and push them to go further,” she said.

Malabar, who has received a bachelor of arts from the University of Winnipeg before studying law at the University of Manitoba, also has a master’s degree in constitutional law. For 15 years, she worked as a Crown counsel before quitting to run in the federal election.

Along with the environment, Malabar said health care is among her top concerns.

“Health care is a huge issue for me personally,” she said. “I’m a very big proponent of universal pharmacare, so if elected I would work to see that that happens.”

As a mother of two, Malabar said she has also experienced first-hand the shortage of affordable child care.

“We need to do better,” she said.

If elected, Malabar said she would also make it a priority to see that federal infrastructure funding be directed to projects in Elmwood-Transcona.

“I’d like to see the Louise Bridge fixed,” she said. “The reality is that we’re going to have a Liberal or Conservative government. Assuming that it is a Liberal government and that I am elected, I would have the best chance to bring that infrastructure money into the riding.”

Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist

Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca or call him at 204-697-7112

   Read full biography