Communist Leader Rowley Returning to Guelph Tomorrow

As per usual with an election campaign, the party leaders are coming through town for a visit: Kathleen Wynne's been here, so has Tim Hudak and Andrea Horwath, and Micke Shreiner's been here the whole time. Next up is Liz Rowley, leader of the Communist Party of Ontario. She always stops by in the course of the campaign, and the 2014 race is no exception with a visit to the University of Guelph campus, and Guelph candidate Juanita Burnett, tomorrow night.

Rolling With the Big Boys Now

When I was talking to Communist Party leader Elizabeth Rowley yesterday, she said that now, 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, it seems that Communists are having an easier time of it out on the trail, promoting their agenda, and even planting signs in people's yards. Here in Guelph, while I haven't seen any Communist signs in people's yards, they are up at heavily trafficked corners of town. They're kind of nondescript, and they don't have Drew Garvie's name on them, but it is interesting to see. These pics are from the corner of Norfolk and Waterloo.

Guelph Politicast #7 - Elizabeth Rowley

In this special bonus Politicast, I sit down with Elizabeth Rowley, leader of the Communist Party of Ontario. The opportunity came quite suddenly, and since it seems like I won't be able to interview any other party leader this election, then I figured why the heck not.

Rowley's had an interesting career. She's been involved with the Communist Party for over four decades, and was one of the first female leaders of a political party in Ontario. It takes a lot of dedication to fight an uphill battle for that long, and it seems that Rowley is just as passionate today as she was when she got involved with the party to battle racism and the Vietnam war in the 70s. 

Like she did in the 2007 campaign, Rowley has made the journey to Guelph, not just to campaign for her party's candidate Drew Garvie, but to touch base with the place where the Communist Party of Canada began exactly 90 years ago this year. We talk about that later in the podcast.

As for everything else, I think Rowley touches on all the major issues of the day, so press play and hear what she has to say.