Politico Interview - NDP's Bobbi Stewart

Continuing on with the Politico's series of Candidate Interviews, we move to our next contestant: Bobbi Stewart of the NDP. I met Stewart at her campaign office on Wyndham (its that underpass strip past the post office where Cafe Aquarius used to be). She seemed a little nervous about her first sit-down interview of the campaign, but was perfectly pleasant as she showed me the brightly lit office area currently manned by her campaign manager/husband Cameron Adams, and my old Script Analysis Prof., Harry Lane.

One thing about Stewart I recognized before our interview is that she's definitely got NDP credentials. Her entire career has been spent in the social justice field as she's assisted new immigrants, at-risk youth, families and seniors. Stewart credits her upbringing in Niagara Falls, and days in her father's corner store, for her beliefs in the causes of social justice and the ideals of the NDP.

“I always tell people that this is where I believe I got my start in community development," she says. "Everybody would come into the store and tell my dad their stories. He would give them store credit, he’d deliver to seniors all sorts of great things. There was a Dominion store up the street, but people liked coming to this small store and get that kind of service."

Stewart came to Guelph in the 70s as part of the first class taking a B.A. in Music at the University of Guelph. Although she enjoyed volunteering with local music festivals, it was in helping those less fortunate that Stewart found true fulfillment, and later she returned to school to get her Masters of Social Work. Between working for such organizations as The Centre for Employable Workers and Working for Work in Kitchener, St. Luke’s Place in Cambridge and the Victoria Order of Nurses in Guelph and Wellington County, and volunteering for groups like Guelph Youth Singers, Onward Willow, the Cancer Society, and the YM-YWCA, Stewart served as riding president of the Guelph NDP.

After the last election, Stewart was prepared to take some time off from politicking and take some time with her now expanded family: her new husband Adams, his two children and her three. So how did she end up getting pulled back in after she thought she was out, as they say. "I was asked," she whispers to me in a laugh.

“I had taking a little break to regroup and settle in with the children and I was having coffee with my dear friend David Josephy who was on the selection committee," she recalls. "I remember the exact day, it was December 2nd, 2009, and at the very end as we were just about to say goodbye and he said, ‘So, Bobbi, I would be remise if I didn’t ask you to seek the federal nomination.’"

Much to her surprise, Stewart discovered that it was a good time for her to make a run for office, a move she said she had always planned on making, just maybe down the road after she retired. But in the spirit of there's no time like the present, Stewart has put her name forward, and here we sit, amongst the orange and green glow of the NDP signs that are a quasi-wall paper on this temporary office space, talking about our individual university experiences learning from Harry Lane.

“What I’ve really enjoyed is that I’ve made an effort to get out to community events and learn,” Stewart says of the campaign so far. She says that she's gone to numerous talks, round tables and townhalls, since becoming the NDP candidate last year and that she's gotten some exposure and learned from the numerous people she's encountered. On going to the polls now, she says it was now or never. “It’s been a steady gear up and frankly it would have been a bit of a let down if we hadn’t go now, because I don’t think we would have had this for another year.”

On the issues, Stewart says that the government should be spending less money on "building big jails and fighter jets" and more on people who need help. She would like to see Parliament to continue to develop and implement a poverty elimination strategy, as well as see more federal money go to affordable housing, while keeping the environment front and centre, as healthcare is the next big issue waiting to be tackled.

On the economy the NDP proposes a cutback in credit card interest to five per cent plus prime, a revision of the Canada Pension Plan, looking again at affordable, national daycare, and helping small business through accelerated capital cost allowances. “So rather than give the corporations big tax cuts, the tax cuts we propose will save $2 billion," says Stewart. "People ask, ‘So where’s the money going to come from?’ and that’s certainly one place.”

But before the NDP can deliver on their promises, they have to fight voter apathy and voter disinterest in what many perceive as an unnecessary election. Stewart says that she hears arguments against an election every day on the campaign trail: why can’t you leave it alone, the government’s fine, the economy’s fine, I don’t trust politicians. Even outside her own campaign office.

“I had a big conversation with a young fellow just outside here the other day, and it was neat because I got somewhere with him and cut down on the cynicism just a little bit,” she says.

Probe further though, and Stewart has no problem saying why she wanted to go to the polls now. “One of the problems, for me, is that I just can’t trust our prime minister," she explains. "There have been too many scandals, the prime minister is too quick to try and hide things and he said at the beginning after the Liberal scandal, the Gomery Inquiry, he wanted to change the face of government to make us more accountable and responsible. And unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to do that.”

Recognizing that one of the key issues of the election by the Conservatives is the notion of a potential coalition between the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecios, Stewart says she's open to the possibility, and so is her party's boss Jack Layton. “If Harper gets a minority government, I think we will certainly need to look at a coalition, and I’m actually quite disappointed that Mr. Ignatieff played in to the media pressure to give them a definite answer about coalitions when he said no.

More than that, Stewart just wants to see a change in tone on Parliament Hill, ironically, one of the very issues that Harper ran, and won on, in the past. “We need to behave as respectful adults and not play the partisan games, and again I find it interesting because Mr. Harper will say that, but I believe that he and his part have behaved in a most polarizing way.”

Celebrate Activism

NOTE: The date change below

From the people that brought you fighting the power and giving peace a chance, comes an event to celebrate those that stand up to the man and lived to tell about it.

Roots of Change
Thursday, April 1st, 2010, 6-11 p.m.
40 Baker St, Guelph, ON, Canada

We invite ALL members of the Guelph campus and community to come on out! There will be 4 key speakers who are all prominent local activists, either from the campus or community. They will share their stories of change and activism, with time for an audience question and answer period.

--->>>KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:<<<---

1. Abid Virani --> Co-founder of Student Reach International
2. Bob Gordon --> Involved this past summer with the HCBP occupation
3. mandy hiscocks --> OPIRG Volunteer Coordinator
4. Dr.Terisa Turner --> Co-director of the United Nations NGO, International Oil Working Group (IOWG)

-->>SPECIAL GUEST:<<-- We are pleased to announce that David Scott, a talented local musician, will be delighting us with his sensational acoustics and lyrics. Come to open your mind, open your hearts, establish new connections, and see a new light or perhaps find something you think is worth fighting for... bring your ideas and positivism and together we will learn from each others stories and make a difference in our community.

The evening is free by donation to support further continuation of the "Roots of Change" project, with complimentary beverages and food. We will have an open mic hour and encourage people to express their creativity by sharing poetry, singing a song, jamming out with some instruments or telling your OWN story!

We are currently in the midst of pairing this event with CFRU 93.3FM to record the event and make it into a mini series that will be aired on the station... so all of Guelph can be a part of the roots of change!! --> we'll keep you guys posted on the details!!

Invite your friends, family, teachers, peers. Spread the word!!

Consider it spread.

A Mayoral Rebuttal

So this was sent out over the interweb yesterday, an official statement from the Mayor's office in regards to that arbitrator's ruling on Tuesday as to the how social services costs are split between the City of Guelph and Wellington County.

The City and County went to arbitration, at the City’s request, to settle on a new method for dividing the costs of soical services and ambulances. As it stands now, the county runs soical services for both Gueplph and Wellington, while the city does the same for ambulances. The City was arguing though that funds should be assigned according to tax assessment rather than caseload, a funding formula that would obviously favour Guelph. The County, meanwhile wanted per-call billing for ambulance services.

The decision by Toronto-based arbitrator Douglas Colbourne effectively keeps the status quo, but looming now is the fallout of council's decision to dissolve the joint City/County committee on ambulance services and pulling out of the social services committee. Of course what's driving this tug-of-war is the all mighty dollar. Money. More specifically budgets, which have not only shrunk given recent economic conditions, but those conditions have also seen people lean on social services a lot more.

Count this in the far from over category. Here's the full statement from the Mayor's office:

"Earlier today the City and the County received Arbitrator Colbourne's decision relating to the apportionment of prescribed costs for Ontario Works, the Ontario Disability Support Program, child care, social housing, and land ambulance between the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington.

"Arbitrator Colbourne has ruled the method for apportioning costs for Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program will be based on the residence of recipients, which is how costs are currently apportioned; the method for apportioning child care costs will be based on the residence of recipients for fee subsidy and special needs resourcing, and based on the location of the centre for wage subsidy, which is how costs are currently apportioned; the method for apportioning costs for social housing will be based on the prior residence of tenants, a departure from the current 75/25 split; and the method for apportioning land ambulance average call cost will be based on location of calls for four call codes, another departure from the current method of splitting costs based on population.

"We are disappointed with the decision. While we need time to understand the full implications, at this time the ruling raises more questions than answers.

"With respect to accountability and transparency for Guelph taxpayers, our concern is the situation is now worse; it's not premature to say this will be a key task for Guelph's new social services committee, the striking of which was approved by City Council last night.

"Some of the points in the ruling are in contradiction with the recent findings of the Auditor General, as outlined in his December 2009 annual report—an obvious point of concern.

"With respect to land ambulance, we do not understand why Guelph/Wellington has now become the only region in Ontario that shares costs based on location of call, which will increase administrative costs for both the City and the County.

"While the City is disappointed with the decision, we feel the process has revealed important information with respect to the breakdown of discretionary versus mandatory services provided by the County, and how Guelph taxpayers' money is spent."

Scenes from an Anti-Proroguing Protest (Royal City Edition)

It was the perfect day for a proroguing protest. The sun was shining, the crowd was large and the only voice representing the Conservatives was the schizophrenic lady that hangs around downtown. But all joking aside, today's event downtown was mostly positive, very open and a very energizing experience. A lot people came out in the cold of January, not just in Guelph, but around the country, to protest Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament until March.



I haven't head the exact numbers yet, but all together I think it was safe to say that 150-200 people came down to St. George's Square this afternoon. The goal was to be "boisterous, not belligerent." Although billed as a non-partisan event, the Prime Minister certainly took his lumps as speakers raked him over the coals over Afghan detainees, the economy, and what Trudy from CUPE called Harper's "complete distaste for democratic processes."




















The event was emceed by Hugh Whiteley of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons. (So not quite completely the usual suspects as my right-leaning colleague observed in his post.) Other scheduled speakers included George Kelly of the Guelph Coalition for Social Justice and Guelph MP Frank Valeriote. Valeriote said that the subject of making adjustments to how and why Parliament gets prorogued has been a subject of discussion in his party's caucus last week adding that Harper governs through cynicism, and was banking on Canadians' own cynicism and indifference to get away with proroguing the House for the second time in two years.


















Representatives of other parties were invited to the mic, specifically Green Party candidate Bob Bell and Conservative candidate Marty Burke. Bell accepted; Burke, it seemed, was not in the proverbial house. "The Prime Minister has found a little loophole through which he continues to jump," said Bell, who added that he was almost happy for the proroguing because it stifles Harper's "misguided" agenda. "He'll have to earn the forgiveness through change of direction because if he doesn't, the wrath of the Canadian people will be on him."

A woman named Bobbi spoke for the NDP since they haven't acclaimed a new candidate in Guelph yet. She said that Jack Layton will be going up to Parliament Hill on Monday to insist that the government be opened for business as usual, and that if Harper opens the House, Layton will offer NDP support for Parliament's winter agenda. Sweet deal, some how I don't think there'll be any takers though.

The rally ended with a decision being rendered from the "Supreme Court of Public Opinion" saying that the court orders the "Managers of Parliament Hill" back to work, and if they refuse, they're remanded to "binding arbitration" with the Chief Electorial Officer of Canada.

After the rally, things moved swiftly to Metcalf Hall in Knox Church on Quebec Street for a panel and perogies. It was standing room only in a hall that I was told by one of Valeriote's staffers had been set up with only 100 chairs. Supplies of perogies were limited because of the numbers, but it still seemed that anyone that wanted a hot Polish pastry was still able to partake. The panel was made up of several influential and well-known community members including Valeriote, disability activist Susan Wheeler, U of G Political Science Prof. Byron Sheldrick, former NDP candidate Phil Alt and Executive Director of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre Jim Profit. They made several points about the need for more tranparency in government and listened to thoughts and concerns by community members.

But at least there was also room for a bit of humour in the day too...

Tom King: Working the Dayshift**

(**The Director's Cut)

If it's Thursday, it means a new "Guelph Beat" column in Echo. This week's subject is my candidate profile of NDP nominee Tom King. See the original article at Echo's website here, or find it on newsstands across the tri-cities for the next seven days. Below is the Director's Cut of the interview:

Tom King is standing outside his home, getting his picture taken by a Macleans photographer. Caught between a busy campaigning schedule and a healthy lunch of a sandwich and fruit, I sat with King at his kitchen table to talk shop. “I’m happy that we finally have a by–election at last,” he says between bites. And after a year a half of solid, “unofficial” campaigning, who could blame him.

On waiting for the writ: "When I ran for the nomination, we expected there to be an [general] election within three months," explains King. (Editor's Note: King was officially named the NDP candidate in March 2007-AAD) We expected that because there seemed to be no way that the Liberals could vote on some of the issues that the Conservatives were bringing down. "We were wrong," he adds with a laugh.

On campaigning: "We've been going door to door and going to activites for over a year now, so we've kicked it into higher gear, but not much higher. Sort of like on a long road trip.

This is King’s first go at elected office; the latest in a long line of odd jobs and careers that started with working as a stock boy at J.C. Penny at the age of 17 and went on to include selling shoes, working on a tramp steamer, being an ambulance driver, a photojournalist, a bank teller, even a door-to-door encyclopaedia salesman. “I know what the ‘McJobs’ of the world are like, I’ve done them,” he explains. “I [also] know what being poor is like and that there’s no romance in being poor.”

Lately, King is best known as renowned author, radio host and community activist. He’s a member of the Order of Canada, a Massey Lecturer and a University of Guelph professor. He says that he’s been a “political animal” for most his life (starting in the 60s after he got back to North America after three years in New Zealand) and that running for office now represents a change from doing “nightshift politics” to doing the “dayshift.” “You’re never sure how much a change you’ve actually make and the question I’ve always had is ‘Are there other areas I can get engaged in where I can be more effective?’”

Extra: Why NDP? King was unaffiliated before joining the NDP to run as their candidate. He says that he looked at all the major parties and he went through them one by one. King says he began by looking for a strong and principled leader, then looked for a party with the same general ideas as him. Things he was looking for: a good record on the environment, concerned about social issues, particularly public health, as well as a focus on jobs and the economy.

Conservatives - "Frankly, they weren't available to me," he says. "If their [environmental] program were a car it'd only have reverse as its transmission gear." He adds the Prime Minister Harper has not been keen on public institutions and has steered more towards P3s. King says that while P3s may have some role in certain sectors of the economy, they don't belong in healthcare and education.

Liberals - King says they've "made a lot of noise" about the environment and social programs, but "haven't voted those principles, and this last parliamentary year has been dispicable to be honest." What drives King's disappointment is the Liberal abstention in 43 important votes in the last year. "What does it say to young people when they scurry for cover whenever there's a hard issue to vote on."

"The two main parties struck me like Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, you open the doors and there's not much there."

Green - "I like the Green stand on the environment but I have no idea what they'd do if they got into power. I think they'd do the right thing, but you never know because you would have expected the Liberals to do the right thing." He added that party leader Elizabeth May bothers him because of the one-for-one deal she made with Stephane Dion, where a Liberal would not run for office in May's riding and a Green would not run in Dion's. King calls it a "deal made with the devil" (not the first though) and says that he can't understand how Green supporters can be okay with it.

NDP - King mentions Bill C-377, the Climate Change Accountability Act, as proof that the NDP are change while the others just talk change. (Learn more about C-377 here.) He also likes the party's commitment to the homeless, low income earners, seniors, public health and education.

One of the places where King is already effective is his role as a satirist. He says that having humour is an important character trait when dealing with politics. That and a “decent brain” along with a willingness to back anyone with a good idea, (and a willingness to fight anyone with a bad idea) King says, makes him a good candidate. “I’ve gotten to an age where I’m reasonably fearless,” he adds. “I want to do it because I think it should be done well.”

When King was asked by an Ottawa reporter about why he wanted to run, he said, “It was high time we elected someone to Parliament that’s trying to be funny,” (an old Will Rogers line) adding that “the poor guy looked at me and said, ‘That’s a joke, right?’” Great lines like that are characteristic of King’s wit, but it represents what he’s serious about: changing the tone in Parliament specifically and the people’s views of politics generally.

“We live in an era where politics has a dirty name, something that’s to be practiced in the shadows,” he says. “One of the things I believe in is that politicians cannot make the kinds of changes we need to make until you get the community energized and up and looking at politics as a community activity and making it fun again. ["My job as a politician is to get into the community and say, 'Hey guys! This isn't going to work unless you all come along for the ride, get involved, figure out what the issues are and add your voices to it.' Because in some cases, you'll come up with better ideas than the politicians will."] We can’t lead you anywhere unless you want to go.”

I then brought up the subject of sign vandalism. Just a couple of days earlier, it was reported that one of King's signs was rather blantantly vandalized. Kings seems to have taken it with good humour. "I drove by and someone had pasted a big American flag on my sign, and I thought, 'Okay, who did that?' And I thought, 'That's pretty funny.'" He then quoted another Will Rogers line, about his people greeting the Europeans on the shore when asked how good an American was he."

"It's political bullshit," King says. "What they're trying to do is call attention to the fact that I was born and raised in the US; I lived half my life in the US and half my life in Canada. I chose Canada for a number of reasons, and I don't plan on going anyplace." Unless it is to the US, where he still has dual citizenship, so that he can visit family there. "But to stick that up is to reduce politics to the kind of level of a demolishion derby. It really has the potential to take away from the real issues of the campaign. Is the real issue that King happens to be born in the States? I don't think so.

"As far as having my signs vandalized, the next day I came back and somebody put a Canadian flag on there," he adds with laugh. "As for who's doing it, I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to guess. It's Mickey Mouse. It's juevinille. So is kicking signs over. Are they vandalized by other political parties? Oh... maybe. Are they vandalized by the guys that roar out of the bar on Friday and Saturday night? Probably. Is it a part of the political season? I guess so, I wish it weren't."

And leadership hasn’t been a problem with King’s campaign. It’s been a source of some humour at just how often NDP leader Jack Layton rolls into the Royal City in order to support his party’s nominee. King says he’s been thrilled by that support and the backing of other prominent members of the party. “[Layton] went door-to-door with me last night, and that’s fairly unusual for a national leader, but he makes the time to do that. I think it says to the electorate that I have the respect of the NDP and the NDP caucus.”

King says he's followed Layton's career since he was a city councillor in Toronto and always believed him to be a principled man. "He's the kind of guy that will vote his principles before he votes his job and that's me." Both King and Layton hope to take this riding for the NDP for the first time. "You'll see as much of Jack as you'll see of me I think." (Editor's Note: To prove the point, Layton will be making another policy announcement tomorrow in Guelph -AAD)

As for his stand on the issues, King says that they’re not hard to figure out because he’s been articulating them for years. “The good thing is that if you want to know what I think about on any of these issues, you can go down and get a book of mine and look it up,” he explains “You don’t have to guess, you don’t have to believe my promises or what I say in speeches, I’ve actually put that into print and I’ve done that for years.”

To learn King's views on the environment, he recommends The Truth About Stories: The Massey Lectures.

But King says above all, he hears the call for a change in direction from the average citizen on the street. “I talk with people, sometimes desperate people, who all they want is a fair share of the wealth of the nation. So in some ways, I’ve listened to the voices that I’m going to hear as an MP.”

As for his own voice, King says he’s had over 20 years on the national stage to hone it and he’s ready to use to represent Guelph. “I think I have that voice and the willingness to use that voice. MPs are normally quiet," he adds. "Oddly enough, the last MP that we had, I never heard her say anything about anything. Seriously, I never heard her raise her voice about an issue having felt strongly about it."

He also told me a funny story about how his Mom's unorthodox job searching techniques helped him get his first job as a stock boy at J.C. Penny, but I'm afraid it loses a lot in the transcription. I'm sure if you ask nicely, he'll tell it to you.

Read Frank Valeriote's Director's Cut interview here and come back next Thursday's for the Director's Cut of my Mike Nagy interview.