Local candidate for Provincial Parliament Alison Gohel made an impassioned speech focusing on equality of opportunity and her lifelong love for Oakville and Ontario. She introduced Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca to a full house of enthusiastic Liberals last night.
Seasons Restaurant downtown was the venue for the gathering of core Oakville Liberals determined to unseat Doug Ford in the next Provincial Election, some six months from now. Alison was introduced by longtime Oakville MP Bonnie Brown, who highlighted Oakville's propensity to elect women to positions of responsibility.
"At one time," she quipped, "our Mayor was a woman, the Regional Chair was a woman, and the MP was a woman. We were running the Town!"
Alison Gohel, an international tax specialist and working mother, emphasized her commitment to public education as the key to opportunity for future generations of Ontarians. Fully bilingual, she made a strong impression on the crowd with her obviously sincere emotional commitment to Liberal tenets such as a healthy environment, an innovative economy, and a level playing field.
Steven Del Duca spoke powerfully, and his long experience in government as a cabinet minister in two portfolios was evident as he addressed the proposed Highway 413, the recent half a billion-dollar cut to the education budget, incursions on the greenbelt, and what he called current government about-faces on electric vehicles and other initiatives in the climate change fight.
After the defeat in the last election where Kathleen Wynne's Liberals lost to Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives, the party has done some soul searching, it would appear.
But they remain convinced that Ontarians care about forward-looking clean industry opportunity, strong public education and healthcare, protection of the environment and action on climate change, all areas they see as threatened under the current Conservative regime.