{"id":24964,"date":"2019-10-17T14:12:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T18:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24964"},"modified":"2019-10-25T16:33:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T20:33:18","slug":"aurora-oak-ridges-richmond-hill-candidates-make-final-pitches-at-library-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-oak-ridges-richmond-hill-candidates-make-final-pitches-at-library-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill candidates make final pitches at Library meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five of\nthe six candidates vying to be Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill\u2019s next\nrepresentative in Ottawa stood before a packed house at the Aurora Public Library\non Tuesday night to make their final pitches to local voters on their home\nturf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although\nthe Richmond Hill Board of Trade is slated to hold a final all-candidates\ndebate for local candidates as The Auroran went to press this week, this was\nthe last chance for candidates to make their pitches in a public setting hosted\nat an Aurora venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stepping\nup, in speaking order, were incumbent Leona Alleslev of the Conservative Party,\nPriya Patil of the People\u2019s Party, Aaron Brown of the NDP, Leah Taylor Roy of\nthe Liberal Party, and Tim Flemming of the Green Party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nmeet-and-greet rather than a debate, the Library\u2019s event was a chance to speak\ndirectly to residents. Excerpts from their respective pitches are included\nhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LEONA ALLESLEV (CONSERVATIVE)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I attended\nRoyal Military College in Kingston. I served as an officer for 10 years. I have\nworked in the Federal Government in Industry Canada, Defence Procurement. I was\na senior program manager at IBM, having the opportunity to implement large\nsystems across both the United States, Canada and in Europe and China. I was at\nBombardier Aerospace as an aircraft manufacturing manager, building really,\nreally cool airplanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nFederal Government matters in the lives of Canadians, and during this election\nCanada finds itself at a critical moment. More than 150 years ago, we came and\nbuilt this nation because we knew that our vast geography, our small\npopulation, the only way that we could protect our sovereignty and grow and be\ncompetitive was if we united. As my friends out west say, this election is for\nall the marbles. The country is at stake. I swore an oath to give my life for\nthis country and now I am asking for the privilege to do that once again. I\npromise that I will always put you and the country first and together we will\nbuild a strong, secure, and prosperous Canada \u2013 not only for tomorrow but for\ngenerations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRIYA PATIL (PEOPLE\u2019S PARTY)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am an\nimmigrant from India. I came here 32 years ago\u2026 I went to law school here,\npracticed law with General Motors and some of the big law firms. I moved to\nCalifornia and became a lawyer there and worked with a lot of technology\ncompanies, but mainly as a finance lawyer. When I came back, I again worked for\nbig public companies and moved into investment banking. My career has been in\nfinance as an attorney and as an investment banker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason\nI am elaborating on that is that has allowed me to be able to read the balance\nsheet really well and the balance sheet I see right now, Provincially and\nFederally, I do not like. I think a lot of the deficits and debts, that really\nworries me and I don\u2019t even have children, but I worry about our future\ngenerations because they will be paying for all this debt and deficits. That\u2019s\nwhat I will focus on and at least bring [this] very important topic of money to\nthe table and have discussions. I am not a career politician, I threw my hat in\nthe ring about 18 days ago and I am working hard on getting the word out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AARON BROWN (NDP)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have\nsome questions I want you to think about. Is life getting easier for me and my\nloved ones? Is this the Canada I want to live in? Is this the Canada I want to\nleave behind? I have been lucky enough to be able to canvass and interact with\npeople in this community \u2013 my neighbours and your neighbours \u2013 and\nunfortunately people are worried and I don\u2019t like the answers to those\nquestions. We\u2019re worried about the cost of living, housing, phone bills,\nmedicine and dental that all add up. We\u2019re worried about national issues like\nClimate Change that both the Liberals and Conservatives have failed to address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New\nDemocrats and I are in it for you. We\u2019re on the side of hard-working everyday\nCanadians, not the big corporations and lobbyists that are currently running\nour country. We know that Canadians want a more affordable life; services like\nuniversal pharmacare and action like the big issues like housing and climate\nchange. That\u2019s why we\u2019re going to fight to save families over $1,000 a year on\ntheir phone and hydro bills. That\u2019s why we\u2019re going to stop profiting off our\nyoung people\u2019s student loans. That\u2019s why we\u2019re going to push forward with a\nbold plan on climate that creates 300,000 meaningful and sustainable jobs.\nThat\u2019s why we\u2019re trying to make your life easier and better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t let\nthem tell you it can\u2019t be done. Listen tonight with an open mind and reimagine\nwhat\u2019s possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LEAH TAYLOR ROY (LIBERAL)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really\nbelieve that politics is about people. It is about you, and it is about\ncommunity. I grew up in a family where community was very important. My father\nwas a small businessman, a community organizer, and eventually served as\nNewmarket\u2019s mayor for almost 10 years. My mother was a nurse and I worked with\nher at an old age home, that was my first job. We grew up with the values of\nhard work and giving back to our community and that\u2019s why I am running: I am\nrunning because this is a very, very important election and that it is time for\nme to put my hat in the ring and say, \u201cI want to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of\nthings have been said about what has or hasn\u2019t been done. I have been told I am\nnot committed to climate change because I am a Liberal, I am told I don\u2019t care\nabout debt because I am a Liberal. Well, I am here to tell you that those\nthings aren\u2019t true. Climate change is an incredibly important issue and I think\nthe Liberal Party has shown their commitment by putting a price on pollution,\nsomething that is a bold and recognized way of reducing greenhouse gas\nemissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\nlook at 50 countries around the world, most of the experts would agree with\nthat. Liberals do care about the debt. We were left with a debt of 39 per cent\nof GDP from the Harper government. It is now 31 per cent. Liberals have brought\nit down. We don\u2019t know what the Conservatives are going to do moving forward\nbecause they haven\u2019t given us the cost of their plan. They can say they are\ngoing to balance the budget, although they don\u2019t say they are going to do it\nanymore this term, but we have no plans. I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re thinking\nabout, but I am thinking that until we have a costed plan we don\u2019t know that\nfor sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope\nyou\u2019ll support a committed, concerned Liberal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM FLEMMING (GREEN)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just got\ninvolved in this recently and I am going to tell you why. Walter (Bauer, Green\nParty Candidate for Newmarket-Aurora) emphasized what is a core part of the\nGreen platform, and [what] it is, but when I decided to move, I went deep into\nthe platform overall and it is actually the only plan out there that addresses\nthe key measures that we, as Canadians, need to move forward with. Beyond the\nclimate, which is an emergency, we need to address it for sure, but we\u2019re going\nto right those Indigenous wrongs and we\u2019re going to fix it once and for all.\nWe\u2019re going to transition to a green economy. Those aren\u2019t words, the reality\nis we\u2019re going to find the right environmental jobs, a fair taxation system,\nwe\u2019re going to find the things that are important. We\u2019re going to fix\necological damage and the only way to do that is to take the things that have\nour knowledge about, like single use plastics, apply our ecological wisdom to\ncorrect the situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re\ngoing to renew the social contract. What that means is at the end of the day,\nwhether that be veterans, seniors, young kids, anything, we\u2019re going to bring\nthe social greatness of Canada, reinvigorate and it bring it to each\nindividual. We\u2019re going to bring a just society. You rarely see it except when\npeople need to put it up front, but whether it be the rights of every gender,\nevery individual, they are going to be front and centre in a just world. It is\ncritical for us. We\u2019re going to have good governance. Remember the last time\nwe\u2026were going to drop first-past-the-post? We\u2019re going to inform that, bring it\nback, bring all levels of government together in a coordinated fashion. <\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five of the six candidates vying to be Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill\u2019s next representative in Ottawa stood before…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6uE","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 21:27:45","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\/24964","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=24964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}