Women candidates in the spotlight at CFUW debate
Town Ward candidate Jenny Lanciault boycotts debate
A debate for women candidates took place at Peterborough Public Library on Tuesday evening, organized by the local chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women.
One candidate for council was missing: Jenny Lanciault, who is running for council in Town Ward, skipped the debate because she felt it was sexist to not invite male candidates to speak.
The discussion was attended by about 65 people in the lower level of the main branch of the Peterborough Public Library.
Here’s how they introduced themselves:
• Diane Therrien: currently Town Ward councillor, running for mayor
Therrien described herself as an outspoken troublemaker, when she was a kid in school.
“I was never political, growing up – but I was always questioning things,” Therrien said.
In Peterborough she started attending city council meetings to speak up as a delegate.
She noticed something at City Hall: some councillors “rolled their eyes” as delegates went to speak.
“I thought, ‘We need better representation. I can do this.’”
• Rose Kitney: trustee representing city of Peterborough on Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, running for reelection
“My background: we emigrated as a young family. My parents brought us from Scotland, in the mid-60s,” Kitney said.
She moved to Peterborough from Toronto when she was a child and raised her family here.
Kitney’s children went through the public school system, she said.
“I think education has to be there – it has to be equitable,” she said. “We have to consider the needs of the whole child – it can’t be one over another.”
• Kemi Akapo – candidate for Town Ward
Akapo said she moved to Peterborough 14 years ago to study at Trent University (she came from Nigeria). She now works co-ordinator of settlement services for the New Canadians Centre.
Akapo she said she thinks that as a renter and as a person of colour, she would bring muchneeded diversity to council.
Council should have 50 per cent women if the city’s population has 50 per cent women, she said.
“I think it’s important council represents the city.”
• Jane Davidson – candidate for Town Ward
Davidson was a business reporter who worked for The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail before moving to Peterborough with her two children.
She’d never considered politics until lately.
“I decided to run following the
results of the provincial election,” she said. “There was no way I wanted to see this city go the way the province was going.”
“I am very strong … I will speak truth to power,” she said.
• Sheila Wood – candidate for Ashburnham Ward
Wood said she’s a mother of three and a grandmother of three – and she’s run for council before, as well as in provincial elections.
Wood is the former general manager of the DBIA and has operated her own business.
She said she’s caring, positive and progressive: “But most of all I’m creative and I have a great sense of humour.”
Wood said she opposed the sale of Peterborough Distribution Inc. (PDI) to Hydro One, as well as construction of the casino.
• Charmaine Magumbe – candidate for Monaghan Ward
“I’m a Jamaican-Zimbabwean-Peterburian,” Magumbe said.
She moved here in 2004 with her family. She has five children, and she’s also a grandmother to a new baby boy.
Magumbe works at Fleming College and she’s chairwoman of the community and race relations committee.
She said she decided to run for council following Premier Doug Ford’s win in the provincial election.
• Lesley Parnell – currently Otonabee Ward councillor, running for re-election
Parnell is running for a third term on council.
She said her parents moved to Canada from Scotland when she was young.
“I’m a very positive person – very dedicated to Otonabee Ward. But when you get to that table, you have to be dedicated to the entire city …. I do put my heart and soul into this job.”
But it’s not easy: there’s a lot of reading and research, Parnell said.