A ‘star’ is born

Jeff Green | May 16, 2018

Lanark Frontenac Kingston NDP candidate Ramsey Hart received some unexpected media exposure last week when he was identified by Progressive Conservative Party Leader Doug Ford as an NDP star candidate and said that his candidacy demonstrates that the NDP is beholding to “downtown Toronto” leftists.

Ford noted that Hart worked at Mining Watch Canada for six years before moving to Perth and taking on the Executive Director role at the Table, a community food program, and called him an “extremist environmentalist”.

At Mining Watch, Hart wrote articles about the “Ring of Fire” mining project. The project has been taking longer to come to fruition than politicians, of all stripes, would like.

In his articles, Hart posed questions about some of the financial assumptions within the project, which requires that a highway be built in order to bring the ore south from its location northwest of James Bay. Hart also wrote about indigenous and environmental issues related to the project.

Although none of the delays the project has faced have been associated with Hart’s articles, Ford said that Hart’s nomination demonstrates that, if elected, the NDP cannot be trusted to move the project forward.

"He spent his whole career, his whole career, trying to close down mines. Who does that? Who targets people working at the mines?" said Ford.

And on the PC twitter page, Hart was dubbed a “star” candidate.

When contacted, Hart seemed rather amused by the star candidate assertion, given that the riding is not exactly an NDP stronghold. In the federal election two years ago, a popular candidate, Perth Mayor John Fenick, finished third with 14% of the vote in Lanark Frontenac Kingston.

As to his connection with “downtown Toronto” leftists, Hart admitted to being Toronto raised

“I did grow up near Toronto but haven’t lived there since I was a teenager. I’ve lived in Southwestern Ontario, New Brunswick, Ottawa.”