Photo: Goldie Ghamari, Carleton MPP-elect, during a debate in May. Photo by Barry Gray.
Canada’s newspaper of record, the Globe and Mail, was so dithered over the poor choices on display for the Ontario general election, it chose not to endorse any particular party or leader.
Instead, the paper’s editorial for the election urged electors to vote for good local candidates.
“So if you are lucky enough to have a local candidate who embodies integrity and principle, we encourage you to support him or her,” the editorial says. “The representatives you choose will need to be strong to hold the next premier to account. Who do you trust to do so?”
An established international trade and business lawyer, Ghamari is a strong woman with all the qualifications to be an effective representative at Queen’s park. Certainly, as words written in the Ottawa Citizen by Randall Denley in 2016 put so well, she’ll be an improvement over the ineffective former MPP Jack MacLaren.
But even with her strong mandate, there is plenty of skepticism about her leader and Ghamari will have to work hard to bring confidence to citizens of Carleton that their government is effective and bringing the change they want.
As well, in this diverse rural-urban riding, she will have the challenging task of bridging a wide variety of needs and issues.
There are many in Stittsville and Carleton who didn’t get what they wanted on election night and have made that clear on social media. But we should all wish Ghamari luck in executing the office she’s been given and hope she will do it well.
We should hope she is able to solve problems and be accessible to her constituents.
And most of all, we should hope she will fight for Carleton — even if that means standing up to her party at times.
Because just as voters can put a politician into office, they can also take them out.
Very well stated Mr. Editor. We are fortunate to be represented by both an educated and youthful member, and an MPP sitting on the government’s side of the legislature.
Let’s hope she reconsiders her previous position and listens to experts on climate change.
These is nothing wrong with Doug Ford. He has the whole establishment against him, so he has to be a good choice. I usually vote for the party,not the local candidate. One must have support in the Legislature to have any impact. Alone they are nothing more than a filled seat. Good luck Conservatives, Good luck Doug, Good luck Goldie
I am glad we have a climate change skeptic as MPP for this riding. The science indicates there is much to be skeptical about and in any case the change is not catastrophic and hardly even alarming. Politicians use climate change as a good excuse to tax us more. Environmentalists use it to obtain funding. The media uses it to sell papers and get ratings. Those who swallowed the kool-aide and have become climate alarmists are, in my opinion, a menace to the public purse.
After the McGinty/Wynne mauling of Ontario’s economy, Doug Ford will be a refreshing change for the better. Looking at the number of votes Ghamari received, I think most in this riding agree.
You are delusional. Don’t comment on climate change from a position of ignorance. Do some reading.
As previously noted, perhaps a bit of research on your part would be prudent:
World Health Organization:
http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health
NASA:
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
If that’s “Kool-Aide” then perhaps you’d better start drinking it as should Ms. Ghamari. The ‘menace to the public purse’ will be the catastrophic affects to our environment, health and economy if nothing is done.
Should I assume from this point forward that Stittsville Central is no longer a news source but an option website? Should I also assume full support for Glen Gower in the upcoming municipal election? Go down this route and you lose all credibility. We don’t need a Stittsville Sun.
I think that’s a little dramatic. I would note Glen Gower has been removed from editorial input since May 1.