Jeff Green | Feb 10, 2021


If Michelle Foxton is going to have a fighting chance of winning the federal seat in Lanark Frontenac Kingston whenever the next Federal election is called, she will need to persuade many voters whose family backgrounds, in terms of political affiliations and voting history, resembles her own.

Her father served as Reeve of Loughborough Township and Warden of Frontenac County. She also served as a Loughborough Councillor in the first ever South Frontenac Council, from 1998-2001. She is married to Wade Leonard, whose family also has a long history in municipal politics in both South Frontenac and the former Portland Township. While those roots are in municipal politics, both families were also long-standing Progressive Conservative Party stalwarts.

“Sometimes we need to change, we have to look deep into our souls. Certainly my family were in those circles,” she said in a Zoom interview on Monday (February 8th) . I was raised in a family that has an appreciation for fiscal responsibility, and we run our own household according to the principle that you don't buy anything until you have the money. “Unless you have the foresight to see opportunities that can make a real difference, and you can take advantage of low interest rates to make important investments for the future.”

She said that she believes the next ten years will be “a decade of consequence” for dealing with climate change and the environment.

“We need to take action, we need to be very forceful, making sure that the interests of future generations are looked after. It is the right time for me to come forward as a local representative so this community can have a say. I felt it was time for me to step up”

She noted that climate change policies are being embraced by people such as Mark Carney, former Central Banker in Canada and the United Kingdom.

“Mark Carney has written papers about emphasising the importance of bringing environmental responsibility to corporations. We need to heed those messages and the Liberal Party is the one that will do that.

COVID has had an impact on her life, as it has on the rest of the community, and it might have has highlighted at least one issue she wants to work on.

“COVID“ has had an impact on my law practice, on the lives of my children, and my husband, who is a teacher at Granite Ridge in Sharbot Lake. One of the things it has really exposed, as an area of concern, is that broadband Internet service is a major infrastructure concern in our riding, not only in the northern parts of the riding, but in pockets everywhere” she said.

While the Federal government has been funding Internet Infrastructure, by investing in projects such as the Eastern Ontario Regional Network, she thinks that the MP could take an active role locally helping constituents work together, with all levels of government, to bring local solutions to the issues.

With no sense of when the election is coming, she said she will be working hard to develop a profile in Lanark County, which makes up the largest part of the riding, even though she cannot do so in person at the moment.

“It is a challenge at this time but we are doing what we can, using Zoom calls and other technologies and reaching out to people throughout Frontenac, North Kingston and Lanark,” she said.

But she is really looking forward to getting out in person, even with social distancing protocols in place, throughout the riding.

It is exciting. I really enjoy meeting people, talking and sharing stories. “It is a really wonderful part of politics and it is something I grew up with during campaigns and I hope it is something that can happen in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston.

She said she realises it will be a tall order to unseat Scott Reid, the Conservative MP who has represented Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston ever since the riding was formed and is expected to run again, although he has not formally announced his plans for the next election, which could come at any time over the next 2 years.

“I am running for Member of Parliament because the hope for a better tomorrow depends on strong, progressive voices today. I believe we need and deserve more effective representation. For 20 years our riding has been on the sidelines. It is time we take a seat at the table and be counted,” she said in a press release announcing that she has been acclaimed to the candidacy by the LFK Liberal Riding Association. “We must make sure that the progressive voices of Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston are united to action, as we build a better future for all Canadians.”

Michelle Foxton lives in Hartington. She runs a general law practice out of an office in Kingston. Her husband, Wade Leonard, runs the Drone program at Granite Ridge Education Centre. The couple have two teenage sons.

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