Fair, Open, and Competitive Candidate Nominations

“…a fundamental aspect of being a member of a political party is having a say in who gets to be your local candidate. We need to respect members by protecting your right to choose candidates in fair, open, and competitive candidate nomination meetings.”

The above quote is taken from my campaign platform when I was running for President last February. I’m proud to report that in the last ten days nearly a thousand PC Party of Ontario members have attended nomination meetings and voted for their preferred candidates in three fair, open, and competitive nominations. I was proud to attend each of these contested nomination meetings held in Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, Etobicoke Centre, and Kitchener Centre. In the article you’ll find a couple of pictures of throngs of members in those ridings lining up to cast their ballot or listening to candidates making their pitches.

All three ridings, for one reason or another, did not have a contested nomination in the lead up to the last election. Unfortunately, we lost all three of them on election-day. This time around all three had spirited races with six excellent candidates making their case directly to party members for the right to carry the PC banner in the next election. The public responded by joining our Party in droves in these ridings for the chance to participate in our candidate selection. The members responded enthusiastically to the contests, turning out to the nomination meetings in numbers we haven’t seen in decades in these ridings. The organizations in these ridings are much stronger for having had competitive nomination races that brought in many new members.

I want to congratulate the successful candidates – Donna Skelly in ADFW, Pina Martino in Etobicoke Centre, and Wayne Wettlaufer in Kitchener Centre. We look forward to your joining our growing PC caucus after the next election. And I also want to congratulate the unsuccessful candidates – Nicholas Lauwers, Mark Stoiko and Mary Henein-Thorn for their dedication and efforts to make their communities and our province and Party stronger. We are pleased to see the hard work they put in and look forward to their continued growth and advancement in the Party.

Throughout the fall I expect many more spirited nomination meetings like the ones that started the season. On behalf of our Leader, Tim Hudak, and myself I encourage you to get involved. Apply to be a candidate, get involved in a candidate’s team, sign up your friends and family as members, and come out to your nomination meeting. Let’s show the media and the public that our Party is the only one in Ontario that truly fosters participation and democracy at the riding level.

Richard Ciano

September 2012