Premier throws support behind candidate

By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express

Scores of Liberal supporters packed themselves into a former storefront on the border of Oshawa and Whitby to show their colours – they want the Whitby-Oshawa riding to turn from blue to red.

Supporters were on hand not only for the official opening of Elizabeth Roy’s campaign office for the ongoing provincial byelection, but also to see the leader of her party, Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Speaking to the packed space, Wynne spoke about what this election means to the riding, as well as to the province’s political future.

“We have a responsibility to make sure that every part of the province is getting the support that it needs and the investment that it needs, and Elizabeth will speak for Whitby-Oshawa. But this campaign is going to also be about values. It’s going to be about investments, it’s going to be about the economy, but it’s going to be about values,” Wynne said at the event. “And we all know, better than most people in the province, that the opposition, the Conservatives chose a leader…who doesn’t represent the values of Christine Elliott, those progressive values that Christine Elliott has espoused for so many years at Queen’s Park. They chose to go in a different direction.”

Wynne added that while people in the community may know Lorne Coe – the Progressive Conservative candidate, as well as a colleague of Roy’s on Whitby’s council – a vote for him means a vote for the party’s values, not Coe’s.

“No matter what the opposition candidate in Whitby-Oshawa believes, there’s a leader at Queen’s Park that doesn’t share those values,” she said. “Just mark that as part of the discussion that we’re going to be having in Whitby-Oshawa because Christine Elliott was a progressive. She was progressive, but they chose to go in a different direction.”

The candidate, who has run under the Liberal banner before, spoke to the crowd about why she should lead the charge of turning Whitby-Oshawa red from its long-time Progressive Conservative blue.

“Whether as a school trustee, west ward councillor or regional councillor, it is about relationships and bringing together what the people of this community need and want. And there have been some fights to get what we want, but we have gotten them, and we have seen solutions within this community. And that’s who I am. It’s about finding solutions and working together, but also working collaboratively with people to find those solutions,” she said. “I’m a healthcare provider. I started my career 27 years ago at Princess Margaret Hospital. There are days where it’s pretty tough. There’s days where you have to talk to a patient who’s not going to be here tomorrow. That’s tough, but it’s the values of knowing what is needed to support families, patients, to be able to have quality of life, especially to their last breath.”

Wynne, speaking with media following the event, voiced her support for having Roy on her side of the aisle at Queen’s Park.

“She is a terrific candidate, she’s a terrific community representative. I’ve known her for a number of years, and I know she’ll be a great voice at the table,” she said. “Obviously, it’s a competitive business. Obviously, there’s an election campaign and we come out to win. But I really mean it when I say that having Liz Roy, who understands the community so well, has worked in education and in healthcare, knows how important infrastructure is to the riding, having that voice at the table will be terrific.”