| Apr 07, 2011


Photo: Scott Reid and Randy Hillier at Oso Hall

“One way to guarantee a beautiful Sunday is to schedule an NDP meeting,” said Kathy Hutchins of the Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington (LFL&A) NDP Riding Association as she introduced the candidate who will contest the federal election in the riding on May 2.

Facing a number of experienced political hands in that election, the riding association has chosen a fresh face, Carleton Place-based manager Doug Smyth, to carry their message.

At a candidate selection meeting in Sharbot Lake on Sunday, April 3, Smyth was the only candidate and was acclaimed to the position.

A rarity among candidates for the New Democrats, Smyth has worked for a number of large corporations during his working life, including Procter and Gamble, and is currently working for a smaller company in the auto parts industry, based at his home on Mississippi Lake. He is married and has three grown-up daughters, one of whom, Kaitlyn, was in attendance at the meeting with him.

Smyth brings a conciliatory approach to issues, saying that in his working life he has found that “if people sit together and take a practical approach to problems or negotiations, they can come to a win-win solution. All it requires is two parties that are willing to negotiate.”

He also said that his experience in large corporations has had the effect of making him supportive of the NDP policies that don't favour handouts to corporations.

“Corporations will take anything they can get. If the government is offering money, they will take it, and they

will not be shy about asking for money, but they will make money whether they get support or not. They are very strong.”

An issue in this election that Smyth focussed on in his remarks was the proposed purchase of fighter jets, which will cost about $15 billion, according to the government, and up to $30 billion, according to Kevin Page, the parliamentary budget officer.

“The plan is to purchase 65 fighter jets, which are really bombers. We don’t need 65 bombers; maybe we need 5 or 10, but not 65. That's a waste of money. We could use that money to house seniors. A lot of seniors could find housing for the cost of the wing on one of those jets,” he said.

During a question and answer period, one audience member asked Smyth whether a person who is concerned about the environment should vote Green instead of NDP

“The Green Party spends a lot of time focusing on those issues,” he said, “but there are lots of other concerns as well. If that is 100% of your concern, then it is probably a place you should be, but the NDP has a set of social policies as well as environmental policies and others. Don't forget we were talking about the environment before the Greens even existed.”

Christine Patterson, of Sharbot Lake, brought up Aboriginal issues. She said that on the NDP election website there were only four lines about Aboriginal issues.

It so happens that Dan Wilson, a member of the LFL&A Riding Association, is a co-chair of the NDP Aboriginal Commission. He said there is a separate website ndpac.ndp.ca that is devoted to the work of the commission and the NDP’s Aboriginal policy (see Aboriginal Issues hidden in election campaign)

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