Election fever – not quite

Jeff Green | Aug 18, 2011

While the provincial election campaign proper is still a few weeks away, at least three of the provincial parties already have their campaigns underway in Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington.

Incumbent Randy Hillier (Ontario PC Party) was in Carleton Place at a fundraising event for autism last Sunday and will be at an event at the Middleville Fairgrounds this coming Sunday.

Meanwhile, Liberal Bill MacDonald (photo left) opened his campaign office at the junction of Highway 7 and 38 on Saturday evening, August 13, with a BBQ and campaign launch. MacDonald was out earlier in the week in Lanark Highlands, and said he was buoyed by a warmer than expected welcome from people living in a region that was the birth place of the Lanark Landowners Association, the landowners’ rights group that Randy Hillier founded and headed before entering provincial politics four years ago.

MacDonald is already campaigning full time, darting across the riding in his newly painted election car.

Hillier paid a visit to a meeting of Lanark County Council last week. In his remarks he talked about some of the themes he will be pushing during the election campaign, including eliminating the Green Energy Act (while respecting existing contracts with small-scale electricity producers) and scaling back regulations that he says hinder rural municipalities in their ability to foster development.

In particular, he told Lanark County Council that a Conservative government would make changes to the Provincial Policy Statement, which would free up municipalities to loosen restrictions to development in their Official Plans. He also talked about eliminating about 30% of the regulatory framework in the province.

For his part, Bill MacDonald said the Green Energy Act has made Ontario the top province in Canada in terms of job creation, and that cutting it would lead to job cuts.

The Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington Green Party also announced their candidate for the October 6 election last week.

Nancy Matte (photo right), of Beckwith Township near Carleton Place, is a University of Ottawa graduate and mother of three who operates a computer consulting business with her husband.

She said she has spent the last 14 years focussing on raising her three daughters, and with her youngest now entering school she has the time to devote to politics.

Nancy believes that “the Green Party has a fresh new approach to politics that values good ideas over old ideologies and has the courage to look beyond the four-year election cycle.”

She said that her commitment to the Green Party is based on their local focus and the fact that their policies meet her values.

“What I love about the Green party is the local idea, the fact that the foundation of politics is built around the community, and when I look at the vibrant communities that make up this riding, I am amazed by all of the activities that people work on to make their communities better and greener. I want to bring that focus to the campaign.”

The LFL&A NDP will be holding their candidate selection meeting on August 28, so a full slate of candidates should be in place by the time the writ is dropped and the election begins in earnest after Labour Day.