THUNDER BAY – Lise Vaugeois says she's “ready to go” as the NDP’s presumptive candidate in Thunder Bay-Superior North in the upcoming provincial election.
Vaugeois, who came relatively close to toppling longtime Liberal MPP Michael Gravelle in the 2018 election, is set to be acclaimed at a riding association meeting on Feb. 17, with no other candidates standing.
A search process had identified three “very strong” candidates including herself, Vaugeois said, but the two others eventually declined to seek the nomination for their own reasons.
Legal Aid lawyer Joy Wakefield and writer and activist Riley Yesno each considered seeking the nomination last year.
Vaugeois carried the NDP standard in 2018, losing by less than three per cent, with 11,160 votes to Gravelle’s 11,973 (PC candidate Derek Parks placed third, with 5,395 votes).
It’s a tantalizingly small gap Vaugeois thinks she has a good chance to close when Ontarians go to the polls on June 2.
Gravelle, who has held his seat since 1995, confirmed his intention last year to run again in 2022, saying “I hope that I can have one more run at it.”
He has called the 2018 race the toughest of the seven campaigns he’s run so far.
Being a second-time candidate will have its advantages, including a base of people who got to know her in 2018, Vaugeois said.
“Name recognition is important – and my name isn’t easy to spell,” she laughed.
Originally from Hamilton, Vaugeois moved to Thunder Bay in 1991 to play with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. An adjunct professor with Lakehead University's faculty of education, she has a master’s degree and PhD in education.
She believes the NDP has a strong message about how the current government has damaged public services, and the need to rebuild them, that will resonate when it actually reaches voters.
“I think the challenge is getting out and meeting enough people and actually having conversations with them,” she said in an interview Thursday.
Vaugeois pointed to cuts to the education budget and legislation capping wage increases for public sector workers, including nurses, as two examples of how the Ford government is undermining public services.
“I think there’s a record to run against, as there was with the previous Liberal government,” she said.
The looming election may not capture public attention for some time yet, she said, but called the coming weeks an important chance to build momentum, saying she will be reaching out to specific communities and groups in the riding.
