2025 Federal Election candidate interviews — John Aldag (Liberals)

For the 2025 federal election, we asked each of Canada’s major parties* to connect us to a local candidate to talk about their policies and offer their perspective on issues of relevance to voters in the Fraser Valley’s five ridings between Langley and Hope.

We spoke to Brad Vis (Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford), John Aldag (Liberal, Langley Township—Fraser Heights), Teri Westerby (NDP, Chilliwack—Hope), and Melissa Snazell (Green, Abbotsford—South Langley).

We asked each candidate questions pertaining to their party’s specific policies and approach to voters. Each candidate was also asked: whether Canadians should boycott American products, their response to calls for federal funding to protect Sumas Prairie, how they reconciled their positions on resource development with the desire to respect First Nations’ traditional territory, and why they personally are running for office.

The Fraser Valley has one riding (Abbotsford—South Langley) in which the presence of a strong independent candidate creates a unique voting dynamic. We have invited every candidate from the riding for an interview. Watch for those later this week.

Below, you can watch our interview with Liberal candidate John Aldag—or read the transcript.

You can find our interviews with candidates from the other major parties here:

Melissa Snazell (Greens) | Brad Vis (Conservatives) | Teri Westerby (NDP)

*In inviting a candidate from the Green Party but not others, we took our lead from the commission overseeing Canada’s federal debates, which defined a major party as one that held at least one seat in Parliament and was running candidates in 90% of ridings. After we had invited candidates, the commission rescinded its debate invitation to the Greens. We decided to proceed with our interview.

Check out our election hubs for more information on the candidates, the parties, and how to vote on Monday, April 28: Chilliwack & the Eastern Fraser Valley | Abbotsford & Mission | Langley

All interview transcripts have been lightly edited for clarity and concision. If you notice an error, email us.

John Aldag (Liberal Party of Canada) | Langley Township—Fraser Heights

FVC: I've asked other candidates this, but your [question] has a little bit of a twist. Why are you running, since you quit the job just a year ago? What's making you run in this election?

Aldag: As you reference, I had been elected twice before. I had been a Member of Parliament in Cloverdale—Langley City. Just under a year ago, I had stepped down the invitation of the BC NDP to run in the provincial election with them. When that didn't work out in the fall, I had essentially retired from politics and was looking at what was next in life.

We had a candidate, Nasima Nastoh, in Langley Township—Fraser Heights who was approved by the party. She was starting to canvass, and then a couple of weeks ago, she came down with a very serious and urgent health problem, and so she had to withdraw from the race. It was that serious. The party was already into the election, as were all parties, and so they were looking for a replacement candidate.

I had filled in my paperwork prior to leaving Parliament for Cloverdale—Langley City, and so they were able to pretty quickly dust off my application package; I had been through the vetting process. So I'm a known entity, and so they reached out to me to see if I was willing to come out of retirement and put my name forward in Langley Township—Fraser heights.

For me, it was really no question at all. This is the riding that I live in, and there was a reason I didn't run in it initially, which is because my employer, at the time, the federal government, prohibited me from running in Langley Township, and that's how I ended up in Cloverdale—Langley City. I was very fortunate to be there, but when they gave me the opportunity to run in my home riding, when Nasima left, I had to jump at it. And so I came into the campaign a bit late, almost two weeks into the election, but I'm here now, and I'm ready to go, and we're having some great conversations on the doorsteps.

Commitment

FVC: How committed are you to serving out your an entire four- or five-year term, if you're elected?

Aldag: 100%. I had left, like I say, at the invitation of the BC NDP, because of the timing. It was really unfortunate timing. But if I had waited till the next cycle, it would have been, three years of being out of office. So it wasn't a decision I took lightly. That being said, I had my my opportunity there and and if I was to return to Ottawa, that's really where my passion is, that's where my my experience is, and I would definitely be there for the duration of the term should I be returned.

The Liberals’ track record

FVC: To move on to where we are now. This has been a weird election cycle. It seemed six months ago that Canadians were ready for a change. Now, suddenly it's less likely. But what have the Liberals done—what did your government do—really to deserve another chance?

Aldag: Well, I think that we've been there for Canadians for the last decade. I was there for seven of the 10 years since we formed government, and under the last leader, we addressed a lot of the issues that Canadians were facing.

There were environmental issues that simply weren't working in approval processes, in part because the previous government, under the Harper Conservatives, did not consult with Indigenous peoples in a meaningful way, and the courts had ground down approval processes. We introduced the Canada Child Benefit. We brought in things programs like the $10 day daycare, dental care for Canadians. We launched a multi-billion dollar housing program that has been working with municipalities and the provinces to build much-needed housing. We've invested in health care, and continuing to invest in health care. We've got Canadians through probably the most difficult time that we've seen in a generation, which was the COVID pandemic and the lockdowns that happened.

And so it's we have a really good track record over the decade. But it was time for a reset and with the departure of the former prime minister, with Justin Trudeau stepping down, having a new leader come in, Mark Carney, I think that it has given the party a complete reset and an ability to refocus to the challenges that we're facing us today, and I'm really excited about rejoining the team under Mark Carney and getting ready for the next decade of work for Canadians.

Housing

FVC: You mentioned housing, and housing is a lot more expensive than when the Liberals took power, and even four years ago. I was looking at our conversation from four years ago, you and other Liberals had been talking about the need to not lower and not depress house prices too much. I think you said we need to be really careful about not causing house prices to collapse. Since then, housing is just as unaffordable for most people as it was four years ago. It's much more so than when the party took power. Why should Canadians trust your party to make the big changes that are necessary to actually make housing affordable for large numbers of young people?

Aldag: This is a top issue that we're hearing, particularly throughout the Lower Mainland and into the Fraser Valley. I think that to deal with housing, this has been an issue that has been building for more than a generation. The federal government left the housing discussions and presence in the housing market in the 1970s, so we had a 50-year absence, but the federal government kind of washed its hands and walked away from housing and left the provinces and primarily the municipalities to deal with the housing issue on their own.

So it's only under our government that we decided that there was a role for the federal government to get in. Now it takes a long time to correct the course on big programs like this. So it was about dealing with the provinces, negotiating in a meaningful way, to be involved with them through more than just transfer payments. We've given money to BC, as an example, to BC Housing to administer on our behalf. And BC Housing does a lot of great work, but it wasn't enough, and so our governments, through the National Housing Program really set that course correction underway, or got it underway.

We were able to start working with municipalities directly, bypassing provinces, because some of the provinces weren't willing players. Some of the municipalities actually were a bit reticent to push on growth within their communities. They identified there were a lot of costs and a lot of barriers. And so through the National Housing Program and some of the pots of funding we had, we were able to allocate funding to municipalities to help remove some of the barriers, to improve the speed at which they could review and approve housing projects. A lot of municipalities told us they were doing things still manually. They weren't computerized, so it's really healthy with the digitization of reviews. So that all takes time. I get that we're in a housing crisis and we have been, but I think that our government was able to put in place the foundation to really help turn the corner on this. It's now about working with the provinces and the municipalities on a number of different models.

So when we think of the single-family-unit dwelling, that's one. Land in the Lower Mainland and into the valley is expensive, so it's what other models are available. That's what we've been working on: we're working with developers to bring down housing costs on condos and particularly apartment buildings, rental buildings. We had a program that was under design prior to the election being called for rent-to-own, and that’s one I'd like to see in our next mandate actually implemented to help Canadians get a toehold into the market, and then get to home ownership through pathways like that. It's also about having other streams of housing that we haven't really had investments in since the ’70s, like co-op housing, and that can take the burden of the cost of land purchase off. and it's a different model of housing that helps with the affordability. So that's the work that I think our government has done to start the work that needs to be done to turn the corner on this housing crisis. And I'm confident that we're the best party position to to to make a meaningful difference in the lives of Canadians, particularly here in BC’s Lower Mainland.

FVC: All those things you were talking about have basically only started in the last 24 months. If it did start sooner, potentially we're in a much different spot. Now you talk about the the opportunities going forward. Why do the Liberals deserve to lead this initiative if it took them so long to recognize that this is what needs to be done in the first place?

Aldag: I wouldn't say that it took so long. I think we recognized it in 2015. I know, when I was out canvassing in the lead up to the 2015 election, one of the top issues I heard was housing and the cost of housing in the Lower Mainland. So I think that our government was seized with that right from day one. But these are, you know, they're long discussions the provinces tend to—kind of … not kind of—guard their territory. There was a whole question about whether the federal government had a legitimate role to be in the housing discussions. And even to have discussions with the 10 provinces and three territories, takes time to then make the decision that we're going to work not only with provinces, but municipalities. That was a pretty big leap as well, and I know that some of the provinces really did push back.

They will have control of those funds and so I think there was a sense of urgency right from 2015, it's just that it takes time to have these discussions, particularly with the division of powers that we have between the federal government and the provinces in Canada. But when we hit the road or the ground, everything was in place for us to really hit the ground running. And so I think that, as you say, in the last two years, we've seen a lot of money and efforts roll out, and a lot of those projects are just coming on stream now. So I think that we have the track record to demonstrate the Canadians that we know how to do this, and we will get the job done.

Sumas Prairie and the Nooksack River

FVC: Our region has also seen, since our last conversation—since the last election—a couple of, and especially one, big, natural disaster in 2021. The Liberals have denied Abbotsford’s request for funding for flood management in Sumas Prairie. There have also been issues in other places. But specifically about Sumas Prairie, what's the federal government's plan to reduce flooding there in the future?

Aldag: Well, this is a really important issue to our area. I don't know why the application for assistance was denied in Abbotsford, because it is so needed, as you say. The Nooksack River flooding was a huge, huge disaster for our area, and I think that the federal government does have a role to be at the table in helping with mitigation against these kind of climate disasters that we're going to see more of.

I don't know if it was that the local Members of Parliament weren't able to adequately or effectively work with our government to make the case on why this was such an important project.

FVC: Weren’t you the most-local Member of Parliament in government?

Aldag: Well, my riding was Cloverdale—Langley City and so my area was not affected by the floods. You know, we had other work, and I was able to secure money for the City of Surrey, as an example, where 75% of my riding was located, to help them work on flood mitigation and and planning.

We had similar funds come to Langley City. Those were the two municipalities I was primarily responsible for. And you know, there's a bit of a challenge for us just getting too far out. But I did have discussions about the importance of this to our region, because I had a piece of the Township, and the eastern part of the Township was very vulnerable from that flooding incident.

But my point now is that, as I, in this new riding of Langley Township, it pushes me legitimately into those discussions further up the valley and I would definitely be at the table with—should we form government again, or worst-case scenario form an opposition and I was elected to work with the whoever is in power—to try to get funding for these kind of flood mitigation projects that are so desperately needed. Because I don't think this is going to be the last time that we ever see water coming over from the Nooksack, and it's: so how do we prepare throughout our region for these kind of issues? And that's the voice I would take forward.

FVC: If somebody is very concerned about these issues, and given that the Liberals haven't decided to fund that project and the fact that they haven't called in the International Joint Commission during Biden's time, which could have negotiated some of these issues, why should the Liberals be trusted to continue leading on this topic?

Aldag: Well, I think that there is recognition of the damage that was done. Like I said, I can't speak to why the project or the work that was proposed wasn't funded. I know sometimes the reality is that funds are allocated before all projects receive funding.

And so it could have been simply that there was a valid project that there were deemed to be higher priority projects in the country. Sometimes applicants don't meet the criteria for the the project stream that they were applying for. And I've seen that in many cases, and I've worked with municipalities to make sure that if they're going for a certain project or a certain funding stream, that they as best as possible meet the criteria, so that they do qualify. I wasn't involved in the decision, so I can't speak to why the Abbotsford application was denied, but I think that, if elected, I would definitely work with the Township, Abbotsford and even Chilliwack, throughout our region on identifying what types of projects—and of course, with my colleagues representing those areas—do we need to safeguard against future incidents such as the Nooksack flooding.

FVC: I think one of the issues is that the funding request is for such a large amount of money, it's for $1.6 to $2 billion—I think it's in there—that it's hard to fit that into an existing [funding] bucket, and that those buckets are set up to deal with with disasters that have maybe happened in the past, or through frameworks that have maybe happened in the past. I haven't been able to ask federal government ministers, which is why you're getting the questions—why these [programs] haven't changed. The government has a plan to create a National Flood Insurance Program too, and that's a thing that was promised, but now the money is not there. So I’m trying to figure out how responsive the government is going to be and can be, if it's taking the same [approach] it's taken for the last 10 years,

Aldag: I think that, as Members of Parliament—and I speak from the experiences I had on the hill—as local representatives, part of our responsibility is to go to government and and essentially the executive, the Prime Minister and cabinet, and talk about local issues.

And if there are issues that we're facing, such as this one, where we have had and are vulnerable to future incidents with absolutely disastrous implications or consequences, both fiscally but also just on the lives of people living in the area, if programs don't exist for those types of things, then it's our responsibility to raise to the executive that there's a gap in programs that the federal government has to help municipalities and provinces.

So I would say that sometimes it's an awareness when we have these kind of exceptional circumstances, to point out either we don't have a program now and we need one or that the funding that's in place for these types of projects is simply inadequate given the magnitude of incidents, disasters that we're now seeing given climate change. We know that the amount of rainfall coming down during atmospheric rivers seems to be greater than ever before, and our infrastructure is not designed to carry the amounts of water in the short durations of time that we're now seeing because of climate change. There's other things, like international work on the Nooksack and flood prevention. You know, those discussions take a long time. That should have started again a generation ago, so that we were safeguarded, but it hasn't, so now that increases the urgency and need to have those discussions starting today.

Health care

FVC: Moving on to health care. Health care is under provincial jurisdiction, but the federal government provides a lot of the funding for health care, and then it uses that money to try to shift priorities and policy. The health care system in general seems to be in a very perilous state. In the Fraser Valley, our hospitals have been overcrowded for more than a decade. This is the state now. The Liberals have been in power for as long as they have. Why should the Liberals again be trusted to to improve the health care system in the Fraser Valley?

Aldag: So in the time that we've been in office, that we've formed government, we have increased funding on health care for the provinces.

As you say, it's a shared responsibility, and we're primarily there for our transfer payments. That being said, we have put some conditions on at least some of the transfers to improve wait times as well as health outcomes, because Canada has one of the highest levels of spending on health care within the G7 and yet one of the lowest outcomes.

So we're really working on trying to get the provinces, and sort of through their structure, the health authorities to have better outcomes, more efficiently, and so we can make better use of the finite resources that are available.

When I was involved in the provincial platform and campaign, we talked quite extensively about the the inadequate pace of of improvements to health care in the valley and Fraser Health, given the population growth that's happening here, and I know the province was looking at responding to the infrastructure with more hospitals, other models of care, and the federal government as a very willing partner to make the investments that are needed.

We also have an issue with just attracting and retraining medical personnel. And so there's some really exciting work now that we're leading with the provinces and the licensing bodies in the provinces, to look at the increased mobility of medical practitioners across Canada, but also internationally. When I was in Ottawa, I met with a number of colleagues, with groups such as medical schools, and particularly nursing schools in the Philippines. And I think that if there's a way that we can actually credential those international schools, it would be the same with medical schools—there's some great ones in countries around the world—if we can prove that their credentials equal Canadian credentials, we should be able to recognize those licenses when people come to Canada and are willing to practice in whatever part of the medical system they're in.

Now, again, those are complex discussions with both the provinces and the licensing bodies, but that work has been underway, and I think that we're very close to being able to solve, or at least resolve some of those long standing issues on licensing, both domestically as well as internationally.

Should Canadians boycott American products?

FVC: On the relationship with the United States that's now dominating much of the conversation and campaign. Different parties have different perspectives, but a lot of it comes down to both gut feeling and also how you respond and react to American rhetoric and threats. Do you think Canadians, just as individuals, should boycott American products?

Aldag: I think that there's a whole bunch of things we need to do. Even listening to the radio this morning, I was out this morning and and listening to Trump and the contradictory message he's giving on what tariffs are applying and what aren't, I think that it really demonstrates that we need somebody who can maintain a level head and continue on course with what's happening. And I believe that's Mark Carney.

To the point of that is that the federal government has a very strong role in responding and determining how we respond to Trump and his administration. And I think that it's about understanding the needs of Canada and Canadians and holding course on that in a mature and responsible way. Course correcting is necessary.

Now to your question specifically about the role Canadians have: I think that we all can make a difference, have an influence on where we spend our money and who benefits from that. So my family and I are trying to buy Canadian where possible, and to help bolster the some of the loss of revenue that we may be having from Americans purchasing Canadian-made goods and services. And so I'm a huge supporter of Canadians buying Canadian-made, Canadian-grown. I think that it all just helps strengthen the Canadian economy and and it keep our money from going to the States, where the the administration, at least down there, is not very grateful for the money that Canada has contributed to the economy for decades.

Economic development and reconciliation

FVC: One thing your leader has suggested is that we need to streamline and create economic development projects in a more speedy way to react to this moment in time. Can you do that and still respect or engage properly with First Nation communities and and their representatives, and respect their wishes and what they'd like to see in their territories?

Aldag: I think we have to. That's the simple reality of how Canada is structured and with some of the progress that we made on on respecting Indigenous rights and title within Canada. We have the recognition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and that really does obligate Canada to have meaningful consultations as we look at approving mega projects that will benefit the Canadian economy.

That being said, I think that we have the framework in place through legislation such as Bill C-69 that our government did in our first term, that enshrines the need for consultation in a meaningful way with Indigenous communities. That being said, the Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that we will definitely work on streamlining the parts of the process that the federal government controls and work with the provinces to try to have, instead of multiple approvals and reviews, a singular one that would be combined, as we have in BC.

But it's about making sure that Indigenous consultations are built right into whatever those processes are. Because we've seen this under the Harper Conservatives, when they didn't do that and they tried to just ram projects through the we ended up with blockades, we ended up with court cases that just ground everything to a halt because the Indigenous peoples we're not being consulted. This is why I think it's so important that we follow due process, and that will actually help us get the kind of projects that we need to make Canada's economy strong, and that also builds a base for the economy for First Nations and other Indigenous peoples in Canada to not only survive, but to thrive.

Mark Carney and reconciliation

FVC: Niigan Sinclair, a columnist at the Winnipeg Free Press wrote that Justin's Trudeau heart regarding Indigenous people and First Nations was in the right place, but he wasn't necessarily capable of understanding some of the core issues that go to the heart of some of the the the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the federal government. We haven't seen or heard Mark Carney say very much about First Nations and their role in our country. Do you think that he has that knowledge and understanding that Justin Trudeau, at least, according to Sinclair, may have lacked?

Aldag: Absolutely. Mark Carney is a super smart guy. I think he gets there's various levers within economic processes, and I think one of those is recognizing that in Canada, we need to engage with Indigenous organizations, communities, individuals, in a meaningful way. So I think that despite what you're referencing about the previous Prime Minister, I do think that there was recognition of the injustice that Indigenous communities have faced because of Canadian laws and policies over since the beginning of Confederation.

So we did a lot of work on trying to rebuild those relationships now. So the work that we did on removing boil water advisories. You know, I still hear criticism that it's not done, but we made significant progress and there's only a handful of communities left, and in many cases, projects are ready to come on board or very near to [completion]. A couple of the ones that are really left are complex. Some water regimes require the provinces to help protect upwater, water sources and so these will take a bit longer to figure out.

But I think that we demonstrated on Indigenous housing, on economic opportunities, a lot of work was done. And to your point, specifically on Mark Carney, I would say the man absolutely understands that our economy is complex, there's a lot of pieces that go into it, and in Canada, you can't ignore the importance of having Indigenous participation in those decisions. And I think that you'll see that completely included in any strategy we have.

A lot of the announcements that Mark Carney has made so far are about the economy because that's what people are talking about. But I’ve seen at least some references to the importance of Indigenous participation. and so I think that although it may not be a standalone item at this point, we still have more to come in the next two weeks of the election. But it really is about how do we make a strong economy for Canada, Who are we trading with now? How do we remove interprovincial trade barriers, and part of that conversation absolutely has to be how do we include the Indigenous peoples in Canada in those conversations?

The interview concluded.

You can find our interviews with Fraser Valley candidates from other major parties here:

Melissa Snazell (Greens) | Brad Vis (Conservatives) | Teri Westerby (NDP)