Candidate: Yves Fricot

Liberal candidate Yves Fricot says he’s worried a Conservative government will make Canada weaker.

The father of three entered the federal election as a candidate for Thunder Bay – Superior North. Originally from Quebec, Fricot moved to Thunder Bay at the age of six and went on to practice law and later become legal counsel for the Buchanan Group of Companies.

Fricot said he entered the race because he didn’t want a government focusing on ideologies over ideas.

"When you have a prime minister who starts to think the government belongs to him and not to the people of Canada, as a country we lose something important," Fricot said. "I’m worried that if we continue to go down the path Harper is taking us we are going to go to a place where we are ultimately unhappy with and our country will be weaker."

With a struggling forestry sector, Fricot said he remains positive that the industry will pull itself back onto its feet. He also believes that he is the candidate who has the knowledge and skills to make that happen. A good foundation is the key to ensure that Northwestern Ontario has a future, he added.

While the forestry sector could make a recovery, it wouldn’t be the same as before.

"Our economies are changing," he said. "We have to be globally competitive. People are going to see two or three different jobs through their careers and we have to prepare them for that. Our businesses have to have strong foundations."

For Thunder Bay to compete globally, the city needs to attract the youth with opportunities.

Fricot said he knew all too well the implications a company can have on a city or town. It was the reasons he fought hard to ensure the Terrace Bay pulp mill restarted.

"We didn’t do that by simply saying ‘oh please come and save our town or come and save our mill,’" he said. "That was what everybody in the country was doing. We sat down with people in the community and we worked together to say to the government this is a good place to invest."


That’s the attitude Fricot said he wanted to move forward with when it came to developments such as the Ring of Fire or commercial ideas found at the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute.

It`ll take a strategic plan to ensure businesses and communities can work together, he said.