The federal NDP candidate for Wellington-Halton Hills has been named and she says the Alberta provincial election results gives Canadians permission to vote NDP.
The local nomination meeting was held at the Wellington County Museum on May 19, 2015. Anne Gajerski-Cauley was approved unanimously by the attending party and community members.
Local party officials say spirits were high with the largest turnout for an NDP nomination in the riding in over 20 years, with supporters feeling the NDP had the momentum needed to bring a real challenge to Conservative MP Michael Chong in the coming election.
Gajerski-Cauley was acclaimed the candidate as the nomination for the position was uncontested. She is a United Church minister, a local community activist and a member of the NDP for 30 years.
“Harper has stolen the Canada that we know…” was the opening remark of her acceptance speech. She also stated that Justin Trudeau had voted against his own father’s charter by supporting the Harper conservatives on Bill 51, the anti-terrorism legislation recently passed in the House of Commons with the support of the Liberals. She went on to say the Greens are progressives in conservative clothing and they would pass regressive tax legislation should they be elected. Gajerski-Cauley went on to touch upon several issues that were dear to her heart such as the waste of billions of dollars spent on the F-35 stealth jets, the lack of action on missing and murdered aboriginal women, the high cost of post-secondary education and the “appalling” response by the present government on sexual abuse of women in the military.
She closed by saying, “Harper’s time has come, this election will come down to a riding by riding defeat of the Harper government.”
In hospital settings, Gajerski-Cauley has worked with adults in palliative care and those struggling with mental illness. She also has experience as a spiritual care provider for children living with cancer.
As the mother of an adult son living with autism, she has a deep interest in care for vulnerable persons. “We have an aging population that needs care. We will fund long-term care facilities as well as proper home care that does not force people to call on friends or neighbours to take care of them when they are unwell,” said Gajerski-Cauley. She has also been an advocate for disability issues and has worked with the founder of Disabled People’s International who wrote the United Nations Program for the Decade of the Disabled.
