It’s a horse race!
Lawyer and community leader Karmel Sakran and Alyssa Brierley, also a lawyer who works in the regulatory regime for refugees while completing a PhD in international politics, officially threw their hats into the ring at a Burlington Provincial Liberal Association (BPLA) Board meeting, Feb. 19th.
And while the pair promises a spirited race for the nomination in April, they agreed on one thing: the Burlington provincial riding is winnable for the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty.
“No matter who the Tories put forward in the October election, we can win Burlington for the Liberal Party,” said Brierley.
All Burlington Liberals need to do is ensure voters here know that Liberal policies are far more humane than those of the Hudak Tories, who hearken back to the rigid neo-conservatism of the old Mike Harris governments, Sakran said.
Still in High School when the Harris government was in power, Brierley recalled she often brought coffee to her teachers who were on strike and picketing. “The McGuinty government not only made peace with teachers in Ontario, it established a clear, positive direction for education that will benefit our children for generations to come.”
Sakran, who just completed a stint heading up the Burlington United Way campaign, went to Burlington’s Central High School and took a law degree at the University of Windsor. He’s also currently serving his fifth year on the Board of Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital.
For him, the issues in Burlington will include the mid-Peninsula Highway, which Tory leader Tim Hudak says he will immediately launch – despite strong environmental opposition in Burlington to paving over more farmland.
“When you consider that Burlington is the hub of Hamilton, the Niagara Peninsula and the GTA, it’s peculiar that we always seem to be passed over – despite the fact Tory MPPs represented this riding for more than six decades,” said Sakran. “We must take our place in the provincial agenda and if I’m fortunate enough to win the nomination and get elected, I’ll be working for that.”
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