Paul Sloan says he wants the region to be noticed, and considered more often when political decisions are being made.
He is the Northern Ontario Heritage Party candidate for the Thunder Bay – Superior North riding and the president of three constituency associations in northwestern Ontario.
“Right now it’s a victory that we got the party into the election,” Sloan says. “Now that we’re here, we’re going to do as best we can to get the message out so that people can learn what we’re about and gain trust in the party so that in coming elections, people see us as a viable alternative.”
The next step for the party is sending an elected candidate to Queen’s Park. Sloan says that it’s likely far in the future.
“There’s a lot of theories amongst voters that they should vote in somebody who is a member of the ruling party or they should vote in a member of the opposition,” Sloan says. “Either way up here, it seems whatever parties are in power will promise whatever they need to do to…shore up support.”
Sloan said he personally hadn’t voted in provincial elections for a long time because he felt that Northern Ontario wasn’t being represented properly in the provincial government.
“I never saw any benefits or changes going on regardless of the party whether they were part of the opposition or a member of the minority government.”
Sloan says he joined the Heritage Party a year ago after looking for a platform that was specific to Northern Ontario.
The other two Heritage Party candidates are Ed Deibel for Thunder Bay – Atikokan and Gino Chitaroni for Timiskaming – Cochrane.
