What being the Candidate means to me
In February this year, I was In Banff on a ski trip with my wife when I got injured. I would love to tell you I was injured performing some miraculous maneuver on the mountain, but the truth is, I fell in the parking lot.
I was taken to the local Emergency Department where I was triaged. As they took my intake information, I didn't know how it was going to work, so I got my credit card out.
The nurse looked at the card I was holding and told me to put it away. She said to me, "We’re in Canada and we take care of each other. "
That struck me. Regardless of where I was or what I was doing. I would be taken care of here in our great country.
We live in the greatest democracy, with shared common values like generosity, hard work and hope.
Hope is a word that has, at times, been made to seem trite. Perhaps overused in jargon. But as we look around us at countries where hope is being abandoned, disregarded and even worse, dismantled, I believe it is important to focus on it. To abandon hope is to abandon all promise.
As Liberals, we talk about our "Liberal Values". To me generosity, hard work and a collective hope for the future not just Liberal values. They are simply the cornerstone, for what our country has always represented to both ourselves and the world.
Having been fortunate to be selected to be the Liberal Candidate for Northumberland Clarke, my goals are straightforward. I will develop plans and then fight for issues around Productivity, Affordability and Sustainability.
I have always tried to live my life by being there for those who need me. I have also had the privilege of working across many parts of this riding which has helped me to develop a perspective on the commonality of our issues and also on those things that make a difference to each unique community. Northumberland Clarke is a large and diverse riding and you all deserve to be heard and represented.
We need an MP who is willing to listen to concerns and act on them regardless of who the ruling government is.
MP's should be about actually caring. It should be about putting constituents and the riding ahead of personal political gain. It's about doing everything you can to get dollars and programs to your riding to create sustainable and lasting opportunities.
We are up against a party that isn’t about Canada. It's about absolute power at all costs.
Pierre Poilievre's version of Canada is a small view; a view that is about a selfish, self-centred pursuit where everyone is out for themselves.
Poilievre doesn't believe in shared goals or a national best interest. He merely believes in his own best interest.
Pierre believes a 10 second sound bite that rhymes is more important than real public discourse.
Our sitting MP has been a well-documented loyal disciple of Pierre. Acting to gain political favour with his leader over servicing the needs of the people of our riding. All the while telling us that he "can't do anything until his party gains power". That is not how representation works. He is part of a party that actively discourages its MPs from accessing programs that would benefit their riding.
Now is the time for us to come together to show the Conservatives that we will not let them dismantle a decade's worth of transformative legislation and programs like the Canada Child Benefit, Dental Care, Pharmacare, Childcare, Truth and Reconciliation and the CBC, to name just a few.
I know for a fact that Canada is better than what Pierre has in store for us.
There is Much at Stake.
As the nurse said to me, "We are in Canada and we take care of each other".