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MLA Aman Singh (centre) with his daughter Leni, Premier John Horgan (left), and Legislative Assembly of B.C. clerk Kate Ryan Lloyd (right).

Photo courtesy Aman Singh

MLA Singh speaks on cancer journey, political challenges

By Matthew Cheung

Published 3:48 PDT, Fri August 19, 2022

Last Updated: 4:11 PDT, Fri August 19, 2022

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A former civil and human rights lawyer, Aman Singh became the Richmond–Queensborough MLA in 2020. Singh recently sat down with host Jim Gordon and shared stories about his life and career.

Jim Gordon: What are your thoughts on John Horgan’s announcement (that he is stepping down) and how he has been as a premier?

Aman Singh: He’s done an incredible job leading us. What a time to be premier, through the pandemic, heat domes, multiple floods—we’ve had emergency after emergency. With his guidance and team approach, we’ve done British Columbia proud. He’s been a great mentor to me and many others. He really is a team player.

JG: How big of a part do you think the (cancer) news and treatments played on his decision to step down?

AS: I think going through the radiation and the treatment really does take a toll on your body. (Horgan) really thinks about others before he thinks about himself, and I think he thought: “What is the best thing, not for me, but for British Columbia—what does British Columbia need?”

JG: Watching the premier talk about his health and what you’ve gone through, (has it) been challenging?

AS: I was diagnosed last year with colon cancer. It’s been a year of radiation, chemotherapy, and (I) finally had my surgery (recently and) removed whatever was left. (I) got the pathology results back and there was no cancer left. The chemotherapy frankly sucked. I kept working as much as I could, (because) I thought it was important, plus having something to do and keeping your mind off it really does help a lot. But it does take a toll on your body.

JG: Given the challenges for the government over the last two years, (having) to take a step back and rethink things, where do you go now?

AS: We still have summer to go through, we’re in the middle of fire season, (and) there are some flood watches already in place. That’s really our focus right now—not only the future this summer, (but also) what’s coming, and (making) sure we have enough cooling centres (in case) there is another (heat wave). On top of that, (we’re) making sure we’re still able to provide services for the people who were affected by the flooding and the heat dome last year, (and those in) Lytton. At the same time, we have thousands of healthcare workers calling in sick. We are in the middle of a pandemic; COVID is not gone, it’s still out there. The strains that (we) have right now, they’re fairly contagious. We do have some pressure on the healthcare system. We’ve taken some steps making it easier for foreign trained nurses to start getting into the system. There (are) a lot of foreign trained doctors out here, we’re actively looking at that as well as working with medical professionals to try and see how we can get more doctors here.

JG: Being a family man, what is important to you and how do you balance home life, recovering from (cancer treatments), your job, and listening to constituents?

AS: It’s a tough challenge. When I first got diagnosed with colon cancer, it was stage three. The first thing that comes to your mind is “I’m going to die.” This is a serious disease. All I could think of was (that) I have a two-year-old daughter, (and) I can’t leave her. She has been my guiding light this whole time, and I am grateful to her for my recovery because she was really my motivation, my north star for getting better. In terms of balancing, it’s hard. Usually the hardest period (is) when we have to be in Victoria. Generally, I’ll leave on a Sunday and I won’t come back (until) Thursday. I’m also expected to be in the community over the weekend. It’s a tough job and that’s one of the things we’re trying to change. We are actively looking at childcare at the legislature not only for MLAs but (also) for staff. It discourages women from entering politics, and people who want to have their families around. We’re actively trying to change that so we can encourage more people to come in (and) more families to be there.

JG: There was a report that said the NDP (is) mulling over (a) rent cap for 2023. Can you explain how you are approaching that for next year in terms of inflation and its relation to rent?

AS: Affordability is one of the key issues that we tackled. We got rid of tolls, MSP (premiums), cleaned up ICBC, and got money back into people’s pockets. We had put a rent cap that was capped at inflation. What we didn’t expect coming out of the pandemic was the early stages of inflation recession that we’re seeing now. We also didn’t expect the war in Ukraine—that hiked up prices. In terms of the affordability crisis, we’ve been trying to tackle it. We originally capped rental increase at inflation, but inflation is historically under two per cent. Now it’s up to eight per cent in British Columbia, (the) worst in 40 years. The housing minister is looking at all the options including a rent cap at inflation, and we will come to some sort of solution, but it’s a difficult time.

To watch the full video interview, visit richmondsentinel.ca/videos.