Last evening at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall in Cobden two candidates competed for the NDP nomination for the Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke riding. They were Kurt Stoll of Deep River, a nuclear engineer in Chalk River, and Eileen Jones-Whyte of Eganville, a French teacher. After the delegates present voted, Jones-Whyte was declared the winner.
In her nomination speech, she started off by emphasizing the need for citizens to be involved in expressing themselves, “Your engagement in the electoral process is a key step in making government responsible to people.” She then turned her attention to attacking the Tories and the riding’s incumbent MP Cheryl Gallant. She accused them of having “a vested interest in the disengagement of Canadians.” She continued “Ms. Gallant is still running for the Conservatives, and the Conservatives are still running for the wealthy and the well-connected.” She also attacked the Conservatives for their inaction on climate change saying, “In Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke we recently lived through two floods of the century. We have experienced summers hotter and drier than our previous norm. Our last winter ended with record snowmelt. For ten years Cheryl Gallant sat on the back benches of a government which ignored climate science and muzzled scientists.”
Following announcement of the result, Stoll (shown at right with Jones-Whyte, photo submitted) congratulated her and moved that it be a unanimous decision. In her acceptance speech, Jones-Whyte asked the delegates to consider the ways in which they could move forward to a “more equitable Canada.” “Because every action that you take, every single one of them, will help move us forward towards that goal of social and climate justice.” She ended by thanking Stoll for his efforts at raising the flag and raising the profile of the party in the riding.
Jones-Whyte is past chair of the Training and Learning Centre of Renfrew County and as a coach, a co-founder and Director of the Upper Valley Basketball Association. She shares a love of being active outdoors with her husband, reporter Mark Jones, and their two adult children.
Canada’s 43rd federal election is scheduled to take place on October 21, 2019. Click HERE for voter information on the Elections Canada website.
Click HERE to read the NDP news release about the nomination.
