This page was exported from The Auroran [ http://www.newspapers-online.com/auroran ] Export date:Sat Nov 15 8:18:08 2025 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: NDP candidate Heng aims to find solutions through “community lens” --------------------------------------------------- Leaders need to have a focus on solutions through “the lens of community,” according to Newmarket-Aurora NDP candidate Denis Heng. Heng, who is representing the Ontario NDP in Newmarket-Aurora for the second time after first jumping into politics in the 2022 Provincial election, is back on the ballot in 2025 and says he decided step up again to give residents “a positive choice” ahead of the February 27 vote. “It really takes a solution-based focus run through the lens of community,” he says. “I feel like the issues are all the same [across party lines] and how we decide to move forward is different. I feel like the NDP provides a more community-based solution whereas I feel a more Conservative point of view it's all about the individual.” Heng says his decision to run for the NDP was all about their “values and vision” as well as after coming away from talks with party leader Marit Stiles feeling “she is someone that I believe is actually on my side.” “I feel there are a lot of people who are disillusioned with politics and it is easy to be cynical and say, ‘Things are all the same and therefore that is why I am not going to participate. What does my vote mean?' I feel like that is something that was not a choice for me and I am looking for ways to empower the change in my community that I want to see and these were all things that culminated in the NDP,” he says. “I feel like there are a lot of election promises being made and really looking at, well, what are the meaningful actions that have been put into place in the past? I feel like action has been lacking, although election promises abound. I feel like when I look at the party, it's like who do I feel will be able to stand up and actually push for change against the status quo? I look to the NDP. I want to vote for something positive. I don't necessarily want to vote against something.” Heng says he appreciates the “passion” and “experience” Stiles has brought to Queen's Park as Leader of the Opposition, advocating for an “appropriately-funded” education system and tackling the issues of affordability, housing, and economy. “This is the energy I want to participate in,” he says, “driving towards positive, meaningful action, positive change, that benefits everyone in our community, not just a wealthy few.” “I want to build a community in figuring out what government can provide…to actually build a community,” he adds. “In 2022 and elections before that, it's about affordability, it's about healthcare, it's about education, it's about the economy. I feel like we have to have to get away from tunnel view to say, ‘We're going to approach one of these at a time.' No, they are all interconnected. When we talk about the NDP and their environmental platform… an environmental lens is something our party applies to all of our priorities of affordability, housing and education – the idea that we can't get to a sustainable future without thinking about the green economy and incorporating building code standards, thinking about transportation from an environmental point of view. “I feel this is something I see in Marit where it is not just trying to distill things down to one thing, put money to it, it's done. No, really understanding it's not just the funding, it's not just the people, and it's not just the connections that we need to work across the spectrum of these issues to ensure that we have a system that works.” By Brock Weir --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2025-02-20 14:07:57 Post date GMT: 2025-02-20 19:07:57 Post modified date: 2025-02-20 14:07:59 Post modified date GMT: 2025-02-20 19:07:59 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com