Weiler announces early
Kitchener Waterloo’s Progressive Conservative (PC) Party of Ontario candidate, Tracey Weiler, announced that she would be running in the next provincial election. However, the possibility of an election remains to be announced.
Weiler, who is currently self-employed with her own consulting business, lost the K-W byelection in Sept. 2012 to NDP MPP Catherine Fife. Coming in second place, there was an approximate 3, 700 difference in votes between Fife and Weiler.
Despite this loss, Weiler decided to look ahead and declared that she will be representing the Conservatives in the next provincial election.
“I’ve decided that I am not somebody who gives up. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done,” Weiler said. “Locally and provincially, our province is not doing very well and we need to start creating jobs for young people, we need to focus on the economy so we can invest in healthcare and education like we should be doing and for that I decided that I wasn’t ready to give up.”
Her decision to prematurely announce her candidacy is viewed by Weiler as an opportunity for her to familiarize herself with the locals before an election date is determined.
“When you know what you want to do, you don’t need to wait. For me, I get a chance to listen to people, I get a chance to work in the community in that capacity as a PC candidate,” Weiler explained. “When an election is called, it’s a pretty quick period of time. And it’s really hard to get the time that you need to hear and listen from the people that are around you. For me, this is a huge opportunity.”
The key issues that are addressed in the PC platform are very heavily focused on creating jobs and the economy and dealing with unemployment. A key area that the platform will also focus on is the issue of mental health, which Weiler is a personal advocate for.
The legislature will resume on Feb. 19 and Weiler confirmed that the Conservatives would be there to ask a series of questions to newly instated Premier Kathleen Wynne regarding an upcoming election and decisions that will be made on that.
In the meantime, Weiler is taking her experiences from the by-election and using it to help her formulate an ideal platform if an election is called. When that time comes, Weiler believes that she will be prepared.
“The byelection assured me that I was in the right place, doing the right thing and trying to be honoured with the opportunity to represent this community,” Weiler said. “I’m a mom with two young kids, so I face the same challenges that many families do so I think that I have a good understanding of those challenges that families face on a daily basis. I think all of that put together really does make me a good candidate to represent Kitchener-Waterloo in the future.”
