Meet Your Candidates: Harold Kim (Conservative, Newmarket-Aurora)

August 26, 2021 · 0 Comments

In his two successful bids for a place on Aurora Council, Harold Kim ran on a slogan of “servant leadership,” that is working for and being accountable to the people.

Although the Conservative Party has a slogan of its own, this original mantra is close at hand as Mr. Kim hits the campaign trail to turn Newmarket-Aurora blue.

“In terms of my beliefs and how I work, my mantra is still the same,” says Mr. Kim. “We lead by example, we serve by doing and it is not just lording over people; it’s about service.”

At the same time, however, Mr. Kim says he has to follow the party’s lead and that’s one of the biggest differences he’s found campaigning for a higher office.

He likens himself as a “franchisee” of the Conservative “franchise” in Newmarket-Aurora, as he says are all other candidates in the race for a particular party, and one reason why he hopes to set up a franchise in Aurora’s north riding is leadership.

“When I look at my experience growing up, my parents immigrated here in 1974, I was just a kid,” he says. “They came with $500 – $600 in their pockets, worked in manufacturing jobs, saved enough to buy a small convenience store, saved enough to buy a slightly bigger convenience store, and put my sister and I through university. They instilled in us a sense of hard work, work ethics and I am living the Canadian dream.”

He compares his journey to that of Conservative leader Erin O’Toole whose father was an automobile assembly worker, his mother a school teacher, and he rose to become not just a member of the Canadian Armed Forces but a corporate lawyer as well.

“Myself being in financial services as well as having experience on municipal council, I can relate to O’Toole and his leadership qualities,” says Mr. Kim, drawing a contrast to what he says is Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s “elitist” background.

Leadership, he says, has to come to the top, and that leadership needs to be demonstrated in an area that is front of mind for most Canadians: recovering from the global pandemic.

“We cannot necessarily control COVID because it is a biological entity that constantly evolves, but we can control how we deal with it through our government policies,” says Mr. Kim. “Time and time again over the last 16 – 18 months, there hasn’t been a plan by the Liberal government. It seems as though their plans are more reactive than proactive and I think people are concerned about COVID and how the government is dealing with it.

“Erin O’Toole and the Conservative leadership has a plan to deal with COVID, such as bringing vaccination manufacturing within Canada – domestic manufacturing. We’re going to incent biopharmaceutical companies to locate and manufacture here in Canada. We need to have a partnership with the United States so that we can have a supply chain…just as we have a supply chain in the automobile industry.”

Other issues he says he is encountering door-to-door include jobs and the economy.

“We are a hard-working, hard-work-ethic community,” he says. “[Residents] are concerned about their jobs and the growth of the economy. The Conservative [platform] plans to create one million jobs over three years. We are going to support families by providing 50 per cent subsidies for jobs they lost for those who have been unemployed for more than six months. Jobs and economy are things that are resonating with Newmarket-Aurora residents and we do have a plan for that.”

The Conservatives, he says, also have a plan for tackling climate change but challenges the Liberal plan of “attaching a tax” on carbon emissions.

“The Carbon Tax penalizes those people who need to use their vehicles to get to work – the middle class – and drives jobs and investment out of the country,” says Mr. Kim. “The Conservatives have a plan to meet our international targets and reduce carbon emissions by 2030 that doesn’t require Trudeau’s Carbon Tax.

“Our Climate Change plan includes establishing innovative Personal Low Carbon Savings Accounts to help Canadians make greener lifestyle choices. The program will help Canadians build a lower carbon future with the ability to purchase locally-grown fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy products, transit passes, bicycles and energy-efficient home improvements.”

As he looks ahead to residents going to the polls on September 20, Mr. Kim says he has “always known the Conservative Party to be a compassionate party” that “respects people’s rights regardless of race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation.

“We respect people of all these differences because in a democratic society we have to learn not just to live with one another, but to love one another and appreciate one another for our differences,” he says. “There is always the misconception that Conservatives are cost-cutters and cutting programs. I don’t believe in that at all because I believe in spending, but the right kind of spending. I believe in investing in people. When you invest in people, there is a return – it may be three, five, 10 years down the line, but…there is always a return down the road when you invest in people.”

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter