As an active member of her community, Dale Hamilton, is running for the New Democratic Party in Wellington-Halton Hills.
She said she is not a fan of “the same old-same old,” particularly when it comes to politics.
“I’d really like to see politics at all levels be a conversation between the constituents and their elected representatives,” Hamilton said, “And to be frank, when I look at politics today, that’s not what I see. I want to do it differently.”
Hamilton has a history of approaching things with a different twist. In 1990 for example, she staged a community theatre movement in Canada, which had an impact on her home township in terms of land use and community development. It prompted her and several other members of the project to run and be elected to municipal council, developing a new official plan.
“That’s the kind of thing that happens when you engage people,” Hamilton said. “People realize they can make a difference and communities change for the better. That’s what I want to see in Wellington-Halton Hills and I know from experience that we can do it.”
In the past few weeks she has been attending local events in the riding and knocking on doors, and said she is really pleased with what people are saying.
“I’m not the only one who thinks it’s time for a new approach,” Hamilton said. “Time and time again I’m hearing concerns about health care, hydro, the new highway and more importantly, that people want their voice heard at Queen’s Park. I have a track record of listening and understanding what people want and doing something about it.”
Hamilton has served as an education officer with the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, a tribunal member with the Farm Products Appeal Tribunal, a board member for Groves Memorial Hospital in Fergus and president of the Rural Learning Association.
She is also a professional playwright and published author and is currently heading a community development project in Canada’s first deliberate mixed-income neighbourhood in Toronto.
She lives in Eden Mills with her two teenaged children, just down stream from the farm where she was raised and where her family farmed for five generations.
Hamilton ran as the NDP candidate in the 1990 provincial election in what proved to be a very close race. She finished second to Ted Arnott, who won for the first time.
