Preparing for what will be a defining provincial election; what the candidates are saying.

News 100 blueBy Staff

June 3rd, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

 

It is an election that is going to define the province for at least a decade.

How is it playing out in Burlington where there are three constituencies. Some north Burlington residents, particularly those in Lowville and Kilbride, are in the Milton provincial electoral district, while some living in the northeastern area of the city will be in the new Oakville North-Burlington riding.

In Burlington there are 5 candidates; Liberal Eleanor McMahon, PC Jane McKenna, NDP Andrew Drummond, Green Party Vince Fiorito, and Libertarian Jim Gilchrist

In Oakville Burlington North there are six candidates: Frank DeLuca, Trillium Party; Charles Zach, Libertarian Party; Marianne Workman, Green Party; Saima Zaidi, NDP and Alvin Tedjo, Liberal. The riding was created by the province in 2015

In Milton, which covers the northern part of the city there are  four candidates: Brendan Smyth -NDP, Indira Naidoo-Harris -Liberal, Eleanor Hayward -Green and Parm Gill- PC

The NDP are in a place they have never been in before in Burlington – 2nd

They sent the following out to their supporters and media.

E-5. FIVE DAYS LEFT. So many contacts made, so many people who have expressed support for us. I have been working on NDP campaigns since 1999, and I have never felt like this. We were joking on Wednesday as we canvassed the area around Longmoor that this must be what it feels like to canvass in Hamilton. You can really feel that the people of this city are behind us and believe that we can win.

Drummon in campagn office

NDP candidate Andrew Drummond

And then beyond that, the Liberals essentially conceding the election here gives us an unprecedented opportunity. We were already in at least second place because of the work that we have done, but this really gives us a chance to get over the hump and win this riding.

I again want to thank everyone for everything that they have done for this campaign. I have had a ton of people support me at the doors. I have had so many of you show up to help make phone calls. So many people who generously donated to the campaign. So many of you who helped put up signs. So many of you who came and knocked on doors with me. It has all been very appreciated, and it is because of all of you that we are as close as we are in Burlington.

We are so close to an NDP win in Burlington. Please join me for any time that you can in the next 3 days of the campaign. Even a single hour is appreciated tremendously. We have to do everything we can to get out our message.
Sincerely, Andrew Drummond

The Liberals see the campaign a little bit differently.

Eleanor McMahon sent the following to her supporters and the media:

Courage comes in all shapes and sizes, and we need the greatest courage when things aren’t going how we hoped. Today Premier Kathleen Wynne showed us the courage, character and fundamental decency that Ontario Liberals know make her such a wonderful leader for our province and party.

McMahon with Wynne

Eleanor McMahon with Premier Kathleen Wynne

Today our leader acknowledged that, sadly, after 15 years of incredible progress by Liberal governments and thousands of achievements of which we can be justly proud, she will not be leading us as Ontario’s premier after Thursday’s election.

That’s democracy, and we shall respect and honour the decision of Ontarians, whatever it may be.

What does this mean in Burlington? We can still stop Doug Ford in Burlington
The battle for Burlington is far from over.
1. We know that most Burlingtonians always vote against the Conservative choice.
2. We know the NDP can’t win here.
3. We know only the Ontario Liberals can beat the PCs in Burlington.
4. We know most Burlingtonians don’t want Doug.

We must do everything we can locally to stop a Doug Ford majority.

Eleanor McMahon

Effie signWhere are the Progressive Conservatives in all this? Nothing from the Jane McKenna campaign. But we did get a short video clip on the Oakville Burlington North campaign where Progressive Conservative candidate Effie Triantafilopoulos made an astonishing statement.

In her own words in a public setting Triantafilopoulos said.

graphic01

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3 comments to Preparing for what will be a defining provincial election; what the candidates are saying.

  • Stephen White

    I for one won’t be shedding any tears watching the Liberals go down for the “ten count” Thursday night. Given the litany of scandals, corruption and mismanagement over the past five years their caucus really deserves to take a hit.

    What I am incredulous about though is how no one in the Ontario Liberal Party…not their Cabinet, their caucus, their supporters, or the brain trust in the backroom…has ever stood up and publicly challenged Kathleen Wynne and suggested she should resign. As far back as early 2017 public opinion polls were telling the Liberals they were heading for a debacle. A number of their Cabinet pulled up stakes and retired, but no one had the guts to challenge the Premier and suggest her time was up.

    Here is where I give the Tories and the NDP full credit. The kind of blind acquiescence that typifies Liberal supporters just doesn’t exist in the other two parties. Patrick Brown earlier in the year had enormous pressure put on him by the provincial caucus to resign. When John Tory failed to win an election victory the second time it was clear Party members wanted him gone. Mike Harris apparently got an earful in 2001 at a party meeting in Eastern Ontario that precipitated his exit. The NDP also aren’t shy about challenging their leadership as witnessed by the leadership review in Edmonton in 2016 and Tom Mulcair’s exit.

    To their credit the NDP and PC rank and file membership do a much better job of demanding accountability and performance from their leaders. Members in both parties aren’t afraid to speak truth to power as evidenced by different factions in both parties in the past. Dissonance can be as useful in politics as consensus. Frankly, the Ontario Liberals need to focus less on internal party unity and more on holding their leaders accountable for a less than stellar track record as well as running a disastrous campaign.

  • Philip Waggett

    Eleanor McMahon is in denial! Among her “thousands of achievements for which we can be justly proud”–nearly tripling the provincial debt. skyrocketing electricity and auto insurance rates, increasing mediocrity in the education system, crowded hospitals (hallway medicine), gridlock in the transportation system, overintensification in urban centres, and increasing taxation. She is a dyed-in-the-wool “tax and spender”. Of course, Drummond represents the same tax and spend and borrow program as the Liberals–only worse! And let’s not forgot how McMahon FAILED to represent the interests of Burlington in the school closure fiasco, the overintensification of downtown, and Tyandaga Quarry–Missing-in-Action. Pretty good with rubber ducks, though.

  • Luke

    Even more astonishing than Ms. Triantafilopoulos’ statement was that when she stated that she doesn’t know the answer to the question, the audience Laughs at her. Classy.

    Beware of someone who claims to know it all as in a Pantomath or Politician, it is more likely that they lack the confidence to state, “I don’t know the answer to your question but I would be happy to research and provide you with a correct answer.”