Tom Mulcair’s tour hopes to turn Essex orange

By Allison Crease and Séraphine Rayyan

NDP leader Tom Mulcair was in Essex this week at the campaign headquarters of NDP candidate Tracey Ramsey.

This was part of his six city Southwestern Ontario tour. Essex was Mulcair’s last stop and his main topics included Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration and what changes an NDP government would offer.

Mulcair and Ramsey brought a large crowd to Essex, trying to encourage more voters to go orange with the election just two weeks away. NDP Candidates Brian Masse (Windsor-West) and Cheryl Hardcastle (Windsor-Tecumseh) were also there to meet Mulcair and support the tour. Essex has been a Conservative riding since 2004 with Jeff Watson occupying the seat. The NDP came second in 2011 with 35.2 per cent of the vote.

Ramsey says Essex is one of the most important ridings in Southwestern Ontario.

“I think Tom Mulcair recognizes that there are a lot of people down here who really need our help in the NDP, and that this area really has been ignored by the federal government. We know that we have the highest unemployment rate in Canada and it’s very important that that issue is addressed,” said Ramsey. “People are really suffering down here and need jobs, and need someone federally to turn their attention down to Southwestern Ontario. Also we have a great opportunity to win this seat to turn Essex orange into an NDP riding. So Tom’s very excited about that too.”

Mulcair told supporters he believes Harper’s lost 400,000 manufacturing jobs and failed on Canadian health care and the environment.

“If Ontarians want to defeat Stephen Harper and have better health care, cleaner air and water and real opportunities for jobs and growth, it’s the NDP that will deliver,” said Mulcair. “We can build the Canada of our dreams and it starts right here in Southwestern Ontario.”

Although Mulcair’s tour had multiple points against the Conservatives, across the street were Conservative supporters at Jeff Watson’s office listening to Mulcair’s speech. Last May, Joanne Gignac was elected to be the Conservative candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh and had her own opinion of Mulcair’s speech Sunday night.

“The Conservative government since the down term and global recession has created 1.3 million net new jobs. So first the depth of that recession is one of the strongest job creation records in the G7. Ninety per cent of those are full time jobs, 80 per cent are in the private sector and nearly two-thirds of those 1.3 [million] are high wage jobs,” said Gignac. “In terms of going forward the Prime Minister has indicated very clearly that he’s looking at an additional 1.3 million more jobs by 2020. And we look at that and the record of the Conservative government right here in the city of Windsor and how that applies here in the city. I think you know, very clearly in ‘09 the Conservative government was the government that stood up and bailed out the auto industry. We all know what would have happened if the other parties were in charge because they voted against the bailout, both the Liberals and the NDP, and we know that would have meant here in the city of Windsor.”

Mulcair also brought up recent Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, speaking about the Conservative’s agreement on the negotiation and the detrimental effect he thinks it would have on jobs especially in the automotive industry.

“Stephen Harper hasn’t stood up for auto jobs, and Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party simply won’t,” said Mulcair. “An NDP government will fight for auto jobs with a national auto strategy, support manufacturing and invest in innovation.”

The provincial election will take place on Oct. 19. Voter registration can be done in person at a local election centre, or online at www.elections.ca.