Peggy Revell
Zoey Duncan
The race to replace Howard Hampton in Kenora-Rainy River riding in the Oct. 6 provincial election is heating up, particularly within his own New Democratic Party.
Kenora lawyer Robert Sinding, who filed his nomination papers just days after fellow NDP nominee Sarah Campbell, said it was important to give the local NDP membership a choice between candidates in an important riding.
“I think that there’s no question that Howard was a popular representative,” Sinding remarked.
“What I would say, and what I think he would say, is that’s not just about him, it’s about the fact that the policies that he helped establish province-wide in a very real way are the policies that resonate with people in the north,” he added.
“There’s a level of trust there. There’s a trust for Howard, but there’s a trust for the party: that we’re speaking up for every person in the riding, not just the well-off.”
A lifetime NDP member, Sinding worked as a constituency assistant during the former Bob Rae government before going to law school. He later worked for the Ministry of Labour, where much of his prosecution work dealt with occupational health and safety act violations.
His current practice focuses on workers’ rights.
Sinding is taking aim at Conservative policies in his nomination platform, noting the “stark contrasts” between their plans and those of the NDP.
“The New Democrats are talking about affordable changes so that we can still be working towards balanced budgets while still making more efficient adjustments in health care,” he explained.
“Things like dealing with pharmacare, reducing the price of drugs, ensuring that things are done smarter in terms of things like having a focus on nurse practitioners and health clinics,” he added.
“So many people in our riding have been affected negatively in the economic downtowns and job losses from the mills, and so people recognize that this is the party, the New Democrats, that stand up for them.”
Campbell, meanwhile, has worked as Hampton’s constituency assistant in Dryden for the past eight years, where she’s seen first-hand the workload of an MPP.
“I have a good understanding of what’s involved,” she reasoned.
“I think that I’m a strong and effective advocate, and I also think that I’m a hard-worker and I’m not afraid to give up my weekend, weeknights, and all my free time to raise awareness,” she stressed.
“I think that’s the kind of dedication that people in this riding deserve from their MPP, especially with a riding as large as ours.”
Both Sinding and Campbell will be in Fort Frances this coming Monday (Aug. 15) for a nomination meeting starting at 6 p.m. at the Adventure Inn.
Party leader Andrea Howarth also is scheduled to be on hand.
The local Liberals, for their part, already have nominated Emo Coun. Anthony Leek as their candidate in the Oct. 6 election.
“We have so much to be proud of in this region,” Leek said in a press release.
“It is time for us to promote those qualities to all levels of government, and we can start by electing someone who is proud of the efforts that have been made,” he added.
Leek, who also is a volunteer track promoter at the Emo Speedway, told the Times the future of this riding will rely on the government’s reaction to new mining developments, a restabilizing of the forestry industry, and the need to address the area’s aging infrastructure.
“We’re in for four or five years of some serious change and serious development, and we need to be prepared for that,” Leek stressed.
“And it’s up to the provincial government to be pre-emptive on their investments.”
Also vying to win a chance to represent Kenora-Rainy River at Queen’s Park is Progressive Conservative hopeful Rod McKay.
He currently is serving his first term as a councillor in Kenora, and said that job won’t be affected by campaigning.
“I actually have been thinking about it for quite a while,” McKay noted. “I had to make sure my work schedule and my city council duties in Kenora would be OK, and my personal things all sorted out, and I filed my papers on Friday.”
McKay also is the mill manager at Kenora Forest Products Ltd. and feels that background has made him a proponent for resource-based legislation.
“I think I really need to focus on forestry issues and resource issues in the north,” he remarked.
“I think it’s pretty much been forgotten in the north, and I think representation in the north at Queen’s Park would certainly give us higher profile and help the north of Ontario get some of our issues addressed.
“Really, it all comes down to getting Northwestern Ontario back to work,” he reasoned.
McKay also cited the cost of energy in the riding as a key point in his platform.
“When I get nominated, I’m going to come down to Fort Frances and make myself highly visible, and I look forward to meeting all the people in that area,” he pledged.
Fellow Kenora Coun. Louis Roussin also filed nomination papers to be the local PC candidate, but he was unavailable for an interview prior to press time.
Finally, Jo-Jo Holiday returns to politics as the Green Party’s candidate. She previously ran provincially here in 2007 and federally in the Kenora riding in 2008.
Holiday said the Green Party has seen a positive shift since federal leader Elizabeth May won a seat in Parliament.
“It certainly swings the pendulum into more credibility,” she noted.
While the Green Party does not presently have a formal association in Kenora-Rainy River, Holiday said she has a group of dedicated volunteers and a campaign manger to support her this election.
She plans to assess the needs of each community in the riding as a way to solve their individual problems.
“I believe each community has its strength and we need to build on that, and then bring in education to strengthen the weaknesses of each community,” she reasoned.
“I see there’s dysfunction in our society and I feel we really have to build on communities’ strengths, right from Fort Frances to Fort Severn,” Holiday stressed.
“We have a huge area and the Green Party platform supports farming, supports local food growth, supports education into these areas, and I want to be the voice that helps that happen.”
Holiday also said she supports using technology to improve education in remote areas.
“That shouldn’t be a problem now and it shouldn’t be a stumbling block,” she remarked.
Holiday also mentioned the record low voter turnout during the last provincial election, where just 46.2 percent of voters turned out in Kenora-Rainy River and only 52.1 percent across Ontario.
The previous record low was 54.7 percent back in 1923.
“I was just looking at the numbers of turnouts in the last election and I just want to stress that it is so important—especially this election, there’s newcomers onboard and there’s changes and opportunities for people here, and I think everybody needs to get their voice out there,” Holiday said.
