Zoey Duncan
A constituency assistant to Howard Hampton has been tabbed to replace the longtime MPP as the NDP candidate for Kenora-Rainy River in the Oct. 6 provincial election.
Sarah Campbell beat out Kenora workers’ rights lawyer Robert Sinding in a series of nomination meetings across the riding that culminated here Monday night.
“I think Sarah has all the ingredients to be an excellent MPP,” said Hampton, with whom she’s worked for the past eight years at his Dryden office.
“She’s very smart, she works incredibly hard, she’s got the energy of 10 people.
“She knows it’s not about her,” Hampton stressed. “It’s about all these people who work hard every day, who struggled to pay the bills, who want to look after their family.”
Many party supporters wore Campbell’s name on bright orange buttons as they filled a conference room at the Adventure Inn.
Half of the roughly 130 total ballots had been cast previously at nomination meetings in Sioux Lookout, Dryden, Red Lake, and Kenora.
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath opened Monday’s meeting by highlighting the New Democrats’ push to build on the party’s national success.
“In a matter of weeks we are going to be in an election campaign that is going to change the lives of the people in this province,” she remarked.
“And you know the choice that we, as New Democrats, put to people is going to be a pretty simple one.
“There’s fundamental question that we have to ask,” Horwath said. “We have to ask ourselves, ‘Do we want a status quo that continues to leave ordinary families falling further and further behind or do we want the kind of change that puts you first?”
After winning a coin toss prior to the start of the meeting, Sinding chose to speak first.
He began by introducing himself and his credentials, noting his
family’s history of support for unions and Labour parties. He previously worked as a constituency assistant in the 1990s and regularly attended provincial and federal conferences.
In his law practice, Sinding advocates for employee health and safety, noting his casework has taken him all over the region.
“I know this entire riding inside and out, and I’m known throughout the riding,” he said.
“I’ve seen first-hand the devastation that inadequate worker protection laws and corporate greed have wrought,” Sinding added.
“I’ve talked to many workers who’ve lost an arm or a leg, and with the widows of those killed in mines and mills.”
Sinding cited energy costs, inadequate health care, and lack of jobs as local issues, but also said he wanted to build upon the provincial NDP platform.
“I’m not just communicating existing party policy, I’m interested in shaping it,” he stressed.
Campbell, who is more familiar to party members here thanks to her recent work throughout the riding alongside Hampton, dove right in, speaking about her advocacy for fair energy prices in the region.
“I am committed to taking serious action when I arrive to Queen’s Park to ensure that hydro and natural gas retailers are reined in, and serious scrutiny is paid to the techniques that they use to sign people up to the long-term, unaffordable contracts.
“And that’s why I’m here: in order to fight for you and to fight for our communities,” she pledged.
“I know many businesses in our region are on the verge of closing, not because the volume of business is declining or because the prices for their goods and services have gone up, but it’s because they can no longer afford to pay their electricity bills,” Campbell said.
She also emphasized her familiarity with members and leadership from each of the 51 First Nations’ communities in the Kenora-Rainy River riding.
Following the announcement that she had won the party’s nomination, Campbell admitted in an interview that she hadn’t planned to be a face of the NDP.
“A while ago, Howard did approach me and say when it’s time for him to retire, he asked me if I would be interested in running,” she recalled.
“And I’ll be honest, prior to him approaching me and saying that, I really didn’t give it any thought.
“I was perfectly happy working behind the scenes.
“But once I started to think about it, I really enjoy doing the work, I enjoy helping people, and I think this is a natural next step,” she reasoned.
Campbell said she’ll aim to have as many campaign offices around the riding as is financially feasible, and that the party will use its new website, KenoraRainyRiver.ca, along with Facebook and Twitter, to keep in touch with voters.
“The next step is going to be contacting as many people as I can throughout the riding, making sure that I raise my profile, that I get to every single event that’s going on, and that I talk to people in every nook and cranny of the [riding],” she noted.
Meanwhile, the local Progressive Conservatives continue to organize a travelling ballot to decide who will represent that party in this riding come election day.
Rod McKay and Louis Roussin, both Kenora city councillors, will speak in Fort Frances, Dryden, and Kenora this Saturday (Aug. 20).
Locally, registration will take place from 8-9 a.m. in Room 100 at La Place Rendez-Vous, after which voting will begin.
