NDP leader meets with mayor-elect in short visit
Repealing of cap-and-trade among issues discussed
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath was in Peterborough for what she called a “short but sweet” visit on Tuesday where she met mayor-elect Diane Therrien for coffee at the Whistle Stop Café downtown and visited the GreenUp store.
Horwath was travelling through the area; she’d been in Kingston in the morning, and she said in a phone interview as she was leaving Peterborough around 5:30 p.m. that she stopped here to meet Therrien.
She said she wanted to let the mayorelect know that in instances when the Official Opposition can speak up on behalf of the Peterborough area in the Ontario Legislature, Horwath would do so.
She said Peterborough can expect good things with Therrien as mayor.
“Having a younger, progressive woman at the helm will be excellent, I would think, for Peterborough,” she said, particularly since Therrien “won with quite a nice mandate”.
Therrien said in an interview later that although she once lived in Horwath’s ward in Hamilton, when Horwath was a city councillor, “I’d never met her formally before”.
Over coffee they discussed matters such as the provincial government’s repealing of cap-and-trade, Horwath said – the topic came up since she’d just visited GreenUp.
Horwath also said she’s concerned about the provincial government removing measures meant to reduce climate change, such as cap-and-trade – and that Peterborough residents told her they’re concerned about “harsh weather swings”.
“You’ve had flood incidents that have been horrendous,” she said.
Horwath also said she heard in Peterborough about the difficulty some local people are having as they try to get a family doctor (something Doug Ford noted when he was campaigning here, prior to the June 7 election).
Meanwhile Peterborough hasn’t been spared of the opioid crisis, Horwath noted, and it’s putting stress on
first responders and police across the province (including here).
“In Peterborough we need to see more support – not less,” she said.
Horwath also mentioned she was impressed to find out Peterborough city council will have three women councillors and two councillors of colour, when inauguration happens Dec. 3.
“Having more voices ... always leads to more robust debate and better decision-making,” she said.
She said she’s proud that the Official Opposition is made up of 50 per cent women; it also has people of various religious backgrounds, of various ethnicities, rural people, urban people and representatives from every area of the province.
“It reflects all areas of Ontario,” she said.
That mix of MPPs “didn’t happen by accident”, she said.
The NDP expects organizers to specifically seek out potential candidates from who are younger, or women, or from the LGBTQ community or people of colour before a nomination meeting is ever held, she said.
There’s also a special fund available for women who feel they can’t run in a nomination meeting for lack of money, Horwath said.
It’s a “rigorous candidate search”, but Horwath said she thinks it pays off when it translates into diversity and gender balance for the NDP.
“It’s something that can be accomplished when you’re serious about it.”