{"id":11581,"date":"2015-08-12T14:17:12","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T18:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=11581"},"modified":"2015-08-26T16:01:26","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T20:01:26","slug":"alleslev-wants-conversation-on-the-things-that-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/alleslev-wants-conversation-on-the-things-that-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleslev wants conversation on “the things that matter”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir
\n<\/strong>
\nBeing able to have the chance to talk about things that matter is a constant challenge, says Liberal candidate Leona Alleslev. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really matters is setting our country up economically, internationally, ethically for the next generation \u2013 not about someone\u2019s hair or someone\u2019s first name versus their last name,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a tactic because if you can get people talking about the things that don\u2019t matter, then they won\u2019t ask you the tough questions about the things that do. Never underestimate the power and intelligence of Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Oak Ridges resident with a proud background as a senior-ranking officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Ms. Alleslev says she decided to enter politics due to her \u201cdeep concern with the direction of the country.\u201d As Canada looks towards the 150th anniversary of Confederation, this management consultant says she is well versed in travelling the county evaluating companies. As she travelled, however, the country itself did not escape her watchful eye.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did that same evaluation of the country, both from the fundamentals of our values, as well as the practical application of our policies and our social infrastructure and all those kinds of things,\u201d she says. \u201cI am deeply concerned we\u2019re not necessarily leaving the country a better place than how we found it for our children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mission at the moment is to get as many Canadians re-engaged in the conversation and to tell them it matters. My goals are to make sure we all collectively set the direction of the country the way we believe it should be to the best of our ability. Being elected will contribute to that, but even if I am not successful, simply having the conversation with as many people as I have, then hopefully that will have ended up making a small difference in our small corner of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among Ms. Alleslev\u2019s chief concerns are youth employment and, given her military background, re-establishing what she feels is Canada\u2019s place in the world. <\/p>\n

Canada has a rapidly rising number of unemployed youth, she says, and those who are employed are often under-employed or contract workers with no real job security, no benefits, and no ability to plan for the future. They are living at home, she says, and many of those who aren\u2019t have left the country to establish careers and raise families.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need those future leaders to be employed today, not only because of the contributions they will make today, but because we need them to be our leaders, innovators, developers, entrepreneurs, 10 years from now,\u201d she says. \u201cThe government at the moment seems very focused on redistribution of tax money through tax credits, which are a one-time thing, as opposed to building an infrastructure that allows for everyone to have jobs and to grow and prosper over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since she first joined the Air Force, Ms. Alleslev says she has seen Canada\u2019s role as \u201can honest broker in the world, a strong member of our alliances, our partners and peacekeepers\u201d changed and not for the better. She rejects the Conservative argument it is the best party equipped to handle peace and security \u2013 and it all depends on your definition of both.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to maintain security, there is no question, but we also have to balance it with the values of our society and our individuals and our rule of law,\u201d she says. \u201cI think it is a very delicate tightrope between the two. I don\u2019t believe we need to be as fearful as [Conservative leader Stephen Harper] would have us be, and I think it takes a great deal more courage to be hopeful and to see the opportunities in the world and in our own country than to retreat, entrench, and be afraid. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs someone with my background, we\u2019re always looking for opportunities to have peace so we can avoid war and you do that through understanding other people\u2019s perspectives, being part of international alliances that are doing great things for peace, and obviously having the courage and hope to build a better country. Peace and security is absolutely important, but not to such an extent that we\u2019re paralyzed with fear, one that allows us to be hopeful and positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this is a message Ms. Alleslev says she hopes to convey to voters casting their ballots from the south side of Wellington Street, down into the middle of Richmond Hill. Speaking to potential voters, she says she often finds them questioning whether they can actually make a difference and whether lawmakers actually care about their voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir voice matters and they too can inspire their friends,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen they have a group of people all rowing in the same direction, nothing is unachievable. It is resonating, but they really give the impression they haven\u2019t had anyone to have that conversation with them, to tell them and inspire them that they can make a difference, and now is their time and it matters. It is a critical impact on our democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe possibilities are endless. We have great universities, we have great educated people. We have resources, we have so many things that we could leverage to make truly great things, as we have done in the past. I am excited about being able to start to talk to people about those possibilities and believe that we really can make a difference and change our small corner of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next week, The Auroran sits down with Newmarket-Aurora\u2019s incumbent Conservative candidate, Lois Brown.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first in The Auroran\u2019s series spotlighting candidates vying for your vote in Newmarket-Aurora and Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill begins this week, alphabetically, with Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill Liberal candidate Leona Alleslev.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vote2015"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/2015-08-13-09.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-30N","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 12:46:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}