Current MP Don Rusnak withdrew his name as a candidate in the federal election earlier this year and the Liberal Party has now selected a new face.
The party announced late Monday that Marcus Powlowski received the nomination following association meetings held in Atikokan, Fort Frances, and Thunder Bay, defeating fellow Liberals Shelby Ch’ng, Christy Radbourne, and David Bruno.
All three major parties have now nominated candidates for the federal election, with labour activist Yuk-Sem Won receiving the NDP nomination in early June and former city councillor Linda Rydholm being acclaimed as the Conservative Party candidate in late February.
The federal Green Party has not yet announced its candidate.
Powlowski said as the election draws closer, his focus is to fully understand the issues effecting constituents, find solutions to these complex problems, and convince the voters that the Liberal party is best suited to represent their interests.
“Now being the liberal candidate I plan to go up there [to Fort Frances] and spend a number of days getting to know the community better,” he remarked. “Just talking to people and finding out what the issues are.”
“There’s a lot of things that may not be in federal jurisdiction but I think the federal government has leverage in all different kinds of areas, so I think part of being a good representative is finding how you can leverage the federal government’s power to assist people,” Powlowski added.
In addition to getting acquainted with the people living in Fort Frances and the surrounding towns, he told the Times he’s also focused on visiting various First Nations.
“I want to go out to as many as the reserves or all of the reserves and get to know those places because I think that’s a really interesting part of the job,” Powlowski remarked.
“The federal government, because of the Indian Act, has responsibilities to all of the reserves, so not only do I have to go to Fort Frances but I have to go to all the other little communities and that I really see as one of the high points of this job,” he added.
“I’m really keen to go out to them and meet people there.”
Powlowski told the Times indigenous issues will be a major area of focus for him, if elected.
“Especially here in Northwestern Ontario . . . I think it’s a complex issue that defies simple answers but I think it’s an issue that needs to be addressed and we need to put resources and time into kind of figuring out the best way to address various problems in that community,” he said.
Powlowski also noted that in recent elections, voters have been more focused on removing the current party, instead of empowering and standing behind one, which is a pattern he would like to see changed.
“I think some of the recent elections have been based on a negative vote cast against who was there before,” Powlowski explained.
“Whereas I think with this we can potentially have that positive campaign.”
Powlowski pointed to the Liberals’ “good political record” and the strength of the economy are signs of the party’s success, but said there’s always room for improvement.
“There’s been mistakes,” he admitted. “But I think the Liberals can–and will–do better. It’s a learning curve for everybody, including the prime minister, and when you look at the alternatives, I don’t think there is a very good alternative.”
Powlowski said casting a ballot for the NDP or Green Party is a “throw away vote” because it just takes votes away from the Liberal Party.
Globally, Powlowski said he doesn’t like the direction the world’s going and hopes Canada will defy the right-wing trend in the upcoming election.
Part of his focus if elected is continuing to strengthen the economy and find ways that the federal government can leverage its power to encourage or create jobs.
“Certainly some people will question how much the government ought to be doing, interfering with the economy just for the sake of creating jobs. But I think it has to be done intelligently,” Powlowski reasoned.
When looking at international trade laws and tariffs he said his focus would be on improving agreements, with his existing knowledge of how international trade works.
“If you elect somebody who . . . doesn’t have an understanding of those issues then things will continue to be the way they are with the Americans winning and us losing,” Powlowski charged.
As the election nears, he told the Times his focus will be on having a strong presence across the riding.
“I want to assure the population of the Rainy River region that I’m genuinely concerned about them, I think for me and for them a big issue ought to be, ‘Are you going to represent our interests in Ottawa?’ versus just representing the interests of the people in Thunder Bay,” Powlowski said.
Moving forward he encourages people to bring their issues forward to him so he can best serve the riding.
“It doesn’t matter who you are or what your background is, if you have something you want to say to me or something you think the government ought to be doing I welcome hearing from you,” Powlowski remarked.
“Obviously with 60,000 people you can’t give everybody hours and hours but you can certainly give people the opportunity.”
Powlowski can be reached by email at mtpowlowski@hotmail.com or over the phone at (807) 356-4416.
The federal election will be held on Oct. 21.
