The general consensus among audience members was disappointment that half of the candidates on the ballot for February 27th were missing in action at yesterday’s meeting. The ones who attended are shown above. From left, Kevin Holm – Ontario Party, Marshall Buchanan – New Democratic Party, Oliver Jones – Liberal Party of Ontario. (Photo Roger Prince.) The three missing candidates were: William Denault – PC Party of Ontario, Anna Maria Dolan – Green Party of Ontario, and Mark Dickson – New Blue Party. Considering that R-N-P candidates gave the same treatment to voters at last week’s public meeting in Cobden, it was to their credit that the people of Madawaska Valley turned out in good number on Thursday Feb.20 at the Royal Canadian Legion Barry’s Bay Branch 406.
The meeting format required all questions to be submitted in advance to the Valley Gazette, so no questions from the floor were accepted. The three candidates who attended, however, did remain after the formal session to speak to some voters individually. Among the issues discussed at the meeting were physician recruitment, intimate partner violence, infrastructure funding, and the effect of tariffs on the forestry industry.
Here are some extracts from closing words of the candidates:
Marshall Buchanan (NDP): “We need to remind Mr. Ford that provincial responsibilities are in fact healthcare, education, housing, and infrastructure projects like Highway 17 expansion…. We don’t want our biggest export to be our youth…. To secure the prosperity and quality of life for which we work so hard, we need to fix our healthcare system…. The NDP brought universal healthcare to Canada and we know how to fix it.”
Kevin Holm (Ontario Party): “In voting for me the people of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke will have a loud individual voice at Queen’s Park … I will ensure that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is upheld and will protect personal freedom in Ontario. The Ontario Party will work to keep the government out of your private business, it will work to improve our healthcare system, create a quality education curriculum. and fix the problems that the previous parties have created here in Ontario.”
Oliver Jacob (Liberal Party of Ontario): “Make no mistake – this election is not about Donald Trump or American tariffs. It’s about Doug Ford and his misguided priorities for the province of Ontario. We should be focusing on the real issues that matter here in Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke and that is healthcare, education, and infrastructure.”
Doug Ford was sooooo eager for a premature election but the PC rank-and-file not so much:- the best thing is for local voters to vote only for one of the three candidates who actually attended:- it would be sooooo funny if Doug Ford ended up in a minority government because he told his candidates to “play dead” and hibernate. Btw, there was no mention of locally important issues such as the forestry industry, fibre-optic service to this area, support for local specialty farms catering to the “foodie scene” in Ottawa, provincial resumption of old Hwy 62, programs to promote winter tourism in the entire Algonquin region, giving rural municipalities a share of HST collections in each municipality, etc:- all we ever seem to get from politicians is lip-service to generalities and platitudes and the “mushroom treatment”:- ie keep voters in the dark and feed them lots of horse manure. It would have been helpful to video the entire event and also post it on YouTube but the Gazette does not believe in the Internet although the Current seems to have “scooped” them at their own event:- Mr Lavigne certainly works hard but it would help if he could also work smart.
The missing PC candidate Billy was instructed by Ford not to attend. That says a whole lot right there.
Wonder if the missing candidates were ill or if they are just not serious about earning our votes?