NDP leadership candidate Nathan Cullen joined the student movement March 20, participating in an event at Concordia called Spread the Red.
The goal of the event was to inform students and interested passersby about the strike and hand out red squares in solidarity.
According to NDP Concordia President Hannah McCormack, approximately 30 to 40 students were stationed along Ste-Catherine trying to educate people about the symbolic red square.
Cullen, the MP of Skeena-Bulkley Valley in British Columbia, had been campaigning heavily over the last few months for the position of NDP leader, following the death of Jack Layton in August 2011.
“I said if this happens, I’ll show up. I don’t make promises lightly,” he said yesterday.
Cullen stated that his show of solidarity with striking students was about more than public relations, and that he holds a lot of respect for students.
“People are not just fighting for their own education, but they are fighting for the education of those who are yet to come. How could I not support that?”
The NDP leadership convention will take March 23 and 24.
