The president of the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario) has confirmed the party will hold a second polling station in Fort Frances this Sunday so local party members won’t have to travel to Thunder Bay to cast their ballot for the riding’s Liberal candidate.
It will be set up in Room 303 of the Super 8 Motel here.
“It is my understanding there will be a second polling station in Fort Frances for the vote on Sunday the 21st,” Mike Crawley said Tuesday afternoon.
Karl Littler, the Ontario campaign chair, said there were a number of reasons for the decision.
“We have taken an approach traditionally that we go with one central location,” Littler said. “The difficulty, of course, in Thunder Bay-Rainy River is that the largest urban centre is at the extreme eastern end of the riding.
“In most places, you can find a geographical location that is relatively central that makes sense,” he noted, adding that because no such location existed in the riding, it made sense to allow a second polling station.
Littler said an assessment of the number of members across the riding also justified the decision.
Former Thunder Bay mayor Ken Boshcoff—one of two candidates seeking the Liberal nomination—had sent a notice of appeal to the party last weekend requesting a second polling station in this end of the riding.
His opponent, Thunder Bay businessman Don Paterson, reacted favourably to Tuesday’s decision.
“It is a great opportunity for Liberals in the region to exercise their democratic right to vote for the nominee that they are most supportive of without having to travel the great distances that we face in Northwestern Ontario,” Paterson said.
Boshcoff’s office declined to comment because they had not yet received official word from the party on the decision as of late Tuesday afternoon. But members of his campaign team were confident they would win the appeal.
“We’re looking forward to a successful result,” said Bruce Wade, Boshcoff’s campaign manager.
The decision comes four days after the party made a similar ruling in the new Kenora riding, where Liberal candidate Beverly Wexler had appealed the party’s decision to hold only one nomination meeting in Dryden on March 13.
The day before that meeting, the party announced it would allow a second polling station in Kenora for this Saturday (March 20).
“Very definitely the precedence has been set,” Wade said of the decision in Kenora.
A second polling station west of Thunder Bay means party members in Rainy River District won’t have to travel as far to cast their ballot.
“With the vast distance and unpredictable weather, it is important to have a polling station closer to the people in Atikokan, Fort Frances, and Rainy River region,” Boshcoff said when he launched his appeal.
“In a democratic process, it isn’t fair to ask members to make a five-hour trip to Thunder Bay in order to have their vote count,” he added.
“It certainly is a challenge for people in the region, particularly in Fort Frances, Emo, and Rainy River, to get in to Thunder Bay for a nomination meeting,” agreed Paterson.
“The challenge [for the party] is they’ve always wanted the balloting to take place in one spot,” he added. “Ultimately, it’s their decision on how they run these nomination meetings.”
“We originally brought this issue to the attention of the Liberal Party of Canada in February,” noted Wade, adding the request for a second polling station was denied at that time.
Wade added Wexler’s successful appeal in Kenora “definitely had an influence” on Boshcoff’s decision to appeal the decision for this riding.
More than 3,000 Liberal party members in the riding are eligible to vote in the nomination meeting this Sunday.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
