The provincial Liberals have chosen Moya Johnson to carry the party’s colours in the provincial election on Oct. 6.
Johnson said she has been knocking on doors and listening to people even though the election campaign is slated to officially begin this week. Then again, since she has been a councillors in Halton Hills since 1994, she likely already has a handle on some of the issues she expects to deal with in the next few weeks.
Johnson has been a nurse for 38 years. She grew up in Toronto and served in a number of hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area. She and her husband Rick moved to Georgetown after they married.
They have three grown children.
When asked why she is seeking a seat in the legislature, Johnson said, “I was asked by the Liberals to run. Because I am a nurse, I was really pleased with the track that Mr. McGuinty was on.”
She said there were two requests with Halton Hills hospitals over the past term, but funding for those has now been announced.
But, she said, “There is still a lot more to do in that area in our riding.”
When asked how she felt about running against a popular veteran MPP in Conservative Ted Arnott, Johnson said, “I looked at the results of other elections. It’s not going to be a shoo-in. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Nonetheless, she said she takes heart because many people in the riding have told her because Wellington Halton Hills is held by an opposition member, “the government hasn’t always looked our way. People have been saying that to me. It’s time we had someone on the side of the government.”
When asked about the issues she has been hearing about, she said health care is a priority, which is “very dear to people’s hearts. Education is another.”
She said of the latter people like full day Kindergarten the province investing in post secondary education.
As for the economy, she said she is telling people that the province is now ahead in its employment from where it was at the start of the recession.
She added that there are “pockets of local issues as I go around.”
One of those is the planning for a highway through part of Halton Hills that the local council has opposed. The province recently put that one on hold “for further study.”
Johnson added that she is aware Wellington Halton Hills is a large rural riding and she noted the government has a strong risk management policy for farmers.
“We will be talking about that as we move around the riding.
Johnson recently attended a provincial announcement in Aboyne where Minister of Environment and Perth Wellington MPP John Wilkinson announced the building of a new hospital in Centre Wellington.
Even most hospital officials had been kept in the dark about that announcement, but Johnson said her invitation “came through the centre campaign … I was invited to attend.”
