Profile: Mauro running on experience

Bill Mauro won the 2007 election by the skin of his teeth.

In the interim the 55-year-old says he’s worked hard to better communicate what he and the governing Liberal party have done for Northwestern Ontario.

“I don’t think the Liberals needed to do more. I think personally I needed to communicate what we were doing more. My father always used to say, if we were salesmen in our family, we’d all starve to death. I honestly I don’t think we were doing a good enough job communicating to the people of Thunder Bay-Atikokan in terms of what I was doing and what our party was doing to benefit the riding,” said Mauro, who beat perennial NDP candidate, and current MP John Rafferty by a mere 50 votes four years ago. 

It’s a lot, said Mauro, who on Oct. 6 will seek a third straight election win in Thunder Bay-Atikokan, a riding he’s held since 2003.

“I don’t believe the North has ever had a higher profile in southern Ontario than it currently has now,” said Mauro, rationalizing his reason for entering the political race again.

“But as with any job, the work is never finished. There are other things that I’m excited to see done and completed.”

First and foremost for Mauro is delivering cardiac surgery to Northwestern Ontario.

The veteran politician and former teacher, who served two terms on Thunder Bay city council before taking the advice of former provincial Liberal leader Lyn McLeod and entering Ontario politics, helped spearhead a successful angioplasty program at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.

He listed plenty of similar reasons for wanting to expand cardiac care.

The Liberals haven’t been without their detractors through eight years in office, particularly in the North.

The harmonized sales tax has drawn plenty of criticism. Tagged by Mauro and the Liberals as good for business and job creation, vocal taxpayers have cried out at its implementation.

Mauro said it’s good tax policy, and one the other party’s have no intention of eliminating.

“If it’s so bad, why are their parties not going to remove it? They’re tinkering around the edges, they’re playing pure politics with it. They criticized us on it for two years and here we are in the middle of a campaign and neither one of those parties are going to remove it,” Mauro said.

Having come out recently against the location of a proposed wind farm on the Norwester Mountain range, the Thunder Bay native said he still backs the province’s controversial Green Energy Act.

“I think it’s a great thing and I think a lot of people are going to see in very short order the benefits of this. We’re going to be leading, certainly in Canada, and beyond.”

Quoting an energy expert, Mauro said the solar power being built or contemplated will lead to one-tenth of a per cent on a typical hydro bill.

“When people are trying to draw a link between the Green Energy Act they’re misleading and misinforming the public.”