Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath will be on hand Saturday, when members of the local riding association decide which of its three hopefuls will stand as the candidate in the provincial election in June.
Agnieszka 'Aggie' Mlynarz, Mike Foley and Andrew Bascombe are seeking the local NDP nomination for upcoming election, expected to be held on June 7.
The party faithful are excited to have Horvath come to town on the heels of her announcing the NDP platform, said Andrew Johnson, local riding association president.
“She has recognized that Guelph is an area where she wants to do extremely well and she is excited about the three candidates we are putting up for nomination,” said Johnson.
With 124 ridings up for grabs, Johnson said it’s not common for the party leader to attend many candidate selections at the riding level.
“She can’t be at all of them at once,” said Johnson.
On Monday, Horwath presented a 97-page, fully-costed party platform for the 2018 campaign which includes promises of low-cost daycare, pharmacare for all ages, lower electricity rates — to be paid for by increasing taxes on corporations and the rich.
”We are going to tell people what we are going to do, how we are going to do it, how we are going to pay for it and why it’s good for Ontarians,” said Johnson.
He believes the progressive stance the party is taking going into the 2018 provincial election will resonate in this riding.
“Guelph is a progressive community, a community that cares about its fellow citizens and doing some progressive things. Certainly, on the environmental file we are provincial leaders — if not national and international,” said Johnson. “It seems natural for her to want to come here to Guelph — a place where that message is going to resonate across partisan lines.”
The party’s nomination meeting will be held Saturday at the Evergreen Seniors Community Centre. Voters must be registered NDP members for at least one month prior to the meeting to vote for the local candidate.
In February, the local Liberal riding association selected Sly Castaldi as its candidate in the upcoming election, while party leader Mike Schreiner will stand for the Greens.
The local Progressive Conservative riding association is expected to decide between hopefuls Patrick Meyers and Ray Ferraro in the near future.
Johnson said the upcoming election will be an important one for Horwath, who was first elected NDP leader in 2009.
“This is her third time asking Ontarians to choose her to be their premier. I would think her agenda has been refined by those eight or nine years of elected experience — she knows what she stands for, she is comfortable in her skin,” said Johnson.