Federal NDP find new candidate

By Jeff Green

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The Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington (LFL&A) NDP Federal Riding Association has chosen Bath resident Sandra Willard as their candidate for an election that could come as soon as this spring.

Willard repalces Arif Jinha, from Carleton Place, who informed the party last fall that he would not be able to run after all. Jinha had been selected almost a year ago, on the expectation that a federal election was imminent.

Sandra Willard's name will be familiar to some, since she was the co-ordinator for the Kingston and area committee in support of the unsuccessful electoral reform referendum that took place as part of last October's provincial election.

“I decided to put my name forward as a federal candidate when I realised that global warming is real and the two major parties are not going to address it,” she said, when interviewed by the News earlier this week.

Sandra Willard has always taken an interest in politics, but it was her involvement in a union drive when she worked for the All-Care home heath care company in 2000 that deepened her interest in politics. She eventually became a shop steward in the union, and attended a six-week labour college course in Ottawa in 2003.

She was a staff member for the New Democratic Party during the 2004 election, and is currently employed by Providence Care, an agency which provides services for disabled adults in Kingston and the surrounding region.

In the run up to the next federal election she will be familiarising herself with a range of issues and party policies.

The LFL&A NDP are not the only ones who have lost their candidate. The local Green partry has recently learned that Chris Walker, also selected last year, will not be available to run, and he will have to be replaced in the near future. The Liberal party candidate, Dave Remington, remains commited to the race, as is sitting Conservative MP Scott Reid.