Find out more about our candidates

The provincial election is now almost one week old. It is admirable that we have three strong candidates in the riding each hailing from a different urban centre of the riding.
I look at Anthony Leek who hails from Emo and Sarah Campbell who lives in Oxdrift as candidates from both Fort Frances and Dryden.
Rod McKay is from Kenora.
Both Sarah and Anthony are much younger than Rod and bring different perspectives to the race than I might bring at my age. It is a positive that as young people that they have been attracted to the honorable profession of being a politician.
Rod McKay, like Anthony Leek, is in his first term as a councilor of a municipality and both can see how changes in the province can have significant impacts on their community.
I realize that all political parties have the same goal. They wish to make their community, or province or Canada a better place to live in and raise a family.
They all want to create better health care programs for residents, better educational facilities for learning, and improved transportation systems to move products from one community to another.
Each party has its own road map. Each offers a different set of solutions to help Ontarians.
As I have grown older, the issues that I felt were important when I was 20 are much different now that I am past 60.
When I was young, I didn’t think that it was all that important that I had a family doctor, someone whom I could trust.
However, when my wife and I started a family, having a doctor was much more important and we were fortunate to find one.
As I have aged, I have relied more on my family physician to help maintain my health.
Health according to the polls continues to be important for Ontario residents in every region of the province and encouraging more physicians to locate in under-serviced regions appears to be a priority with the three parties.
Families are looking for more support for daycare and for parent care for aging parents.
Both are necessary in today’s world. As our parents become older than in previous generations, they often now require support that their parents did not receive.
Very few families can survive on a single income and affordable daycare is really important to young families.
Finding a job and creating employment opportunities for young people graduating from colleges and universities is the primary election issue with that age group.
A poll published in Macleans magazine found that two-thirds of new teachers who graduated this year were unable to find work. There are similar employment gaps in other graduating classes.
With the economy tightening, parents of College and University students are wondering what the parties are doing to make post secondary school more affordable.
Parents wish their children can remain in the district and raise their families here and be able to have every job opportunity that is possible.
We realize that it can’t be, but we hope. And failing that we hope that new opportunities in industry, in service and other jobs will be created in the district helping more to stay in the Rainy River District and attracting new young people to make their home here.
We all want a cleaner environment. We would all like cars that do not throw noxious gases in the air, or power plants that only put CO2 into the air.
The parties all have different policies to improve the quality of air in Ontario and create more green energy.
One only has to travel from Fort Frances to Rainy River to see the solar panels capturing energy from the sun in fields along the highway.
I encourage residents to find out more about our candidates and the policies of the provincial parties they represent.
This is where we get to make a difference and choose the road that Ontario will try and travel in the next few years.

Posted in Uncategorized