OWEN SOUND – Kimberley Love, federal Liberal candidate for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, is heading to Montreal this weekend as an invited participant to the “Canada at 150” Conference.
Although organized and hosted by the Liberal Party of Canada, the “Canada at 150” Conference is a non-partisan gathering of business leaders, academics and community leaders. The idea of the Conference is to look ahead to the upcoming sesquicentennial – and share ideas on some of the issues facing Canada: including jobs, the economy, issues facing families, energy and the environment, and foreign policy. A group of 50 speakers in Montreal will be joined by 250 invited participants. Across Canada, local events will be linked to the Montreal event.
Party spokesman Daniel Lauzon said Montreal participants like Love were invited "based on their expertise as well as on the basis of their potential contributions to the five main challenges we've identified."
“It was quite an honour to be invited,” says Love. “This is a non-partisan conference, and it had been made very clear to us that only a handful of Liberals would be on the invitation list for Montreal – although there are many who are participating in simultaneous events across Canada. But in Montreal, I expect to be working very hard – representing our own community, of course, as well as communities like ours.
“I’ve been pretty noisy about getting attention in Ottawa for the kinds of issues facing our rural communities, and small cities and towns like Owen Sound, Hanover, and Meaford” Love admits. “I’ve been harping about rural broadband access, policies to support farm families, rural healthcare, and federal support for clean energy initiatives. I guess that someone decided that I could contribute to the discussion in Montreal.”
Love and her husband, Glen Drummond, have recently authored a set of four articles in the national edition of Country Guide Magazine – on the challenges facing family farms. Love sits on the board of her local Proton-Egremont Federation of Agriculture. She has also been working behind the scenes on exploring opportunities to make this riding a model for the new clean-energy economy: an idea that has become a “bit of a mission”, according to Love.
“I’m looking forward to Montreal,” says Love. “The fact is that most of our political focus is now on crisis management. We seem to spin from one opinion poll to the next – in terms of what the government decides is today’s priority”.
“I think it’s a great idea to actually take some time, gather some thoughtful and sensible people in Montreal and across the country – and actually look at the long view. What kind of a country do we want for our children? What will Canada be known for in twenty years? How can this community build on our tremendous assets? Those are worthwhile questions.”
Canadians can participate in Canada at 150 Conference events, either through a regional event or via internet. More information is available at www.can150.ca
