Former Brockville mayor Steve Clark wins PC nomination for by-election, All candidates meeting takes place tonight at Spring Valley Hall
Posted Feb 11, 2010 By Roy Lewis
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EMC News - Steve Clark vowed to show Premier Dalton McGuinty that "we are not going to take the out-of-touch government he has run for the last six-and-one-half years," after he was nominated as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the upcoming by-election.
Roy Lewis, St. Lawrence EMC
Steve Clark, left, who was nominated on Feb. 6 to be the Progressive Conservative candidate in the Leeds-Grenville by-election on March 4 receives congratulations from Brockville Mayor David Henderson, who had also sought the nomination.
Clark, a former mayor of Brockville, defeated the city's current mayor, David Henderson, in the race for the local Tory nomination. An estimated 600 members of the Leeds-Grenville Progressive Conservative Party Association packed the Quality Inn Royal Brock Hotel's banquet room on Feb. 6 to listen to speeches by Clark and Henderson, the only candidates in the race.
Meanwhile, many eligible voters in the party's riding association cast ballots and then left the hotel. About 50 minutes after the voting closed at 3 p.m., Clark, a former executive assistant for Leeds-Grenville MPP Bob Runciman and most recently the chief administrative officer for the Township of Leeds and the 1000 Islands, was declared the winner. The number of votes received by each candidate was not revealed but a total of 716 voters cast a ballot in the nomination process.
Candidates in the by-election on March 4 have been invited to an all-candidates meeting sponsored by the Leeds Federation of Agriculture. The meeting, to be held tonight (Feb. 11), is at the Spring Valley Hall. Doors will open at 6 p.m. with the meeting starting at 7 p.m.
In his nomination campaign speech to party members, Clark said he "will hit the ground running both here and at Queen's Park," as he and the local PC association campaign for the by-election, now just 22 days away.
"This election is not about the 107 ridings in Ontario but it is about this riding," said Clark.
Clark blasted the McGuinty government for closing down both Highway 401 service centres at Mallorytown and putting 250 people out of work in the middle of a recession. He was also critical of the government's cancellation of retraining programs for the workers.
A decision to move transitional beds from the Brockville Mental Health Centre (former Brockville Psychiatric Hospital), resulting in the loss of 140 jobs, was also criticized by Clark. Another provincial government decision to close down independently operated drivers' licence bureaus and place them with other government agencies will "cost jobs and result in less service," he said.
"This government is out of touch and come Oct. 2011 (when the next provincial general election is held) they will be out of office," said Clark.
The decision by McGuinty to call a snap election was criticized by several speakers at the nomination meeting, including Henderson who called the move a "slap in the face" for voters in Leeds and Grenville.
In his nomination speech, Henderson called for less government intrusion. He said if there is a complicated issue then those involved need to pull back and examine the matter.
Henderson, who is president of Henderson Printing in Brockville, said small family farms in Leeds and Grenville merge into the regional manufacturing sector and "we must make sure that farmers and manufacturers make money and are competitive in today's marketplace."
He pointed to five years of lobbying that it took to bring industrial taxes in Brockville "from the highest in the province to where they are now the most competitive." Henderson criticized the Liberal government health tax that was "buried in the system," and that the imposition of a new holiday - Family Day - "does not help farmers or the industrial sector."
New provincial government rules have cost the city up to four police officers on patrol over the last four years according to Henderson and ambulance costs have gone up because "the rules set in Toronto don't match the realty of the service needed here and it must stop."
Efforts to provide affordable housing is not working, said Henderson who estimated he spent 25 per cent of his time lobbying the province for assistance with various programs.
"We have to make a difference and this is a chance," he said referring to the upcoming by-election.
OUTGOING MPP SPEAKS OUT
Bob Runciman, whose recent decision to accept a seat in the Senate of Canada meant he had to resign as MPP for Leeds-Grenville, was equally critical of the McGuinty government.
"McGuinty has written this riding off as being a chance for the Liberals to gain a seat," Runciman contended.
He speculated McGuinty called such a quick election to ensure the success of the Liberal candidate in another by-election being held in Ottawa at the same time as here. Bob Chiarelli, a former Ottawa mayor, has been acclaimed as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean. He had represented the riding at Queen's Park from 1987 to 1997 before resigning to run for mayor.
The quick by-election forced the local Progressive Conservative Party Association to scramble to prepare for the vote. But the local Liberal organization is scrambling as well because of McGuinty's decision to hold the by-election on March 4 according to Runciman.
Although he is stepping down as the MPP for Leeds-Grenville, Runciman assured members of the local Progressive Conservative Party Association that he will be "a lot closer." Runciman, who has served continuously as MPP for Leeds-Grenville for the past 29 years, is the second longest sitting member of the Legislative Assembly (provincial parliament) of Ontario.
He is only superseded by his colleague, Carleton-Mississippi Mills MPP Norman Sterling, who has been a Progressive Conservative member of the provincial parliament for 33 years.
Runciman noted the local riding will have strength in numbers because with his election to the Senate, "you will now have a Senator in your corner," as well as federal Conservative MP Gord Brown and Clark "when he is elected."
He said the Liberal candidate in the Leeds and Grenville by-election will have a lot of explaining to do about his party's $24.7 billion deficit running up at a rate of $2.8 million per hour.
"He will also have to explain about the largest sales tax increase in the province's history when the harmonized sales tax is implemented in July," said Runciman.
The harmonized tax will blend the five percent federal sales tax and the eight percent provincial sales tax on a wide range of goods and services from electricity to haircuts where many of these items are currently not subject to the provincial tax, he said.
Runciman also wanted to know why the McGuinty government has refused to proceed with the second and third phase of the St. Lawrence Valley Regional Correctional Centre at the Brockville Mental Health Centre (former Brockville Psychiatric Hospital) grounds. Three hundred jobs would be created by the expansion, he said.
Clark's nomination is "the first step for (Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader) Tim Hudak to form the next government in Ontario" when the provincial general election is held in Oct. of 2011, said Runciman.
Local organizers had to "work around the clock" to prepare for the nomination meeting, according to Barry Raison who chaired the nomination event. Raison said both the local and provincial party associations were under "incredible pressure" to start the process in the run-up to the election noting there were close to 1,000 eligible voters in Leeds and Grenville Conservative Party Association.
"We had to abandon all rules after the election writ (call for the vote) was dropped last Wednesday (Feb. 3)," said Ted Matthews, executive director of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and chair of the party's elections.
Ken Zeise, president of the Progressive Conservative Party Association of Ontario, urged members of the Leeds and Grenville association to talk to their neighbours, relatives and friends and bring them out on Election Day. Zeise also called for members to donate to the association to assist with the running of the current campaign.
"The days of McGuinty's mismanagement are coming to an end," said Zeise.
OTHER CANDIDATES
Also on the ballot in the March 4 by-election will be Stephen Mazurek who was nominated on Saturday as the Liberal candidate for the riding, Steve Armstrong who will be representing the New Democratic Party and Neil Kudrinko, the candidate for the Green Party.
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