OPSEU’s Johnstone carries NDP banner in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
 

Although his party came a close second in 1990, Paul Johnstone knows voting NDP doesn’t come naturally for people in the rural communities of Grey and Bruce Counties, encompassing thousands of square kilometers of Ontario between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.

But the OPSEU activist isn’t daunted by the electoral history of the place.

“Standing as a candidate for the NDP this time is just another level of activism. I'm a union activist. Fighting for working families is what I do.”

Johnstone, a Corrections MERC member and one of OPSEU’s more visible faces in the Grey-Bruce region, says his public sector mobilizing is a key to his understanding of how government works.

“I work with the people who do the work we fund through our provincial government, be it health care, colleges, corrections, social services or municipal work. I make sure their stories get told.”

In 2003, Johnstone worked with local paramedics to bring attention to the shortcomings of the “firemedics” scheme proposed for Owen Sound. The plan was to merge the jobs of paramedics and firefighters, an idea rarely put into practice. “Working with my union, I helped give the citizens of Owen Sound a way to voice their very real concerns. The scheme was defeated,” Johnstone recalls.

Johnstone wants to bring this same energy – and abundant knowledge of provincial issues - to the current campaign.

And he’s off to a good start. Last week he was quoted critical of the incumbent, a veteran Conservative, for his plan to skip all-candidates meetings.

“It's sort of like a month-long job application and these all-candidates meetings are like the interview process. I don't know why you'd hire somebody without an interview," Johnstone told the local Sun Times newspaper.

He plans to stand up for public services including health care and education throughout the campaign. “How can a ministry enforce conservation laws when it has to hold bake sales to draw attention to the lack of funds to fuel its vehicles?

“And how can John Tory propose taking millions out of the public education system to fund religious schools, without a tax increase or service cuts?”

"It's important to raise these issues, win or lose," said Johnstone.