THUNDER BAY – K.C. Jones wants Northern Ontario to have a bigger say in its future, and a stronger voice at Queen’s Park.
Three years ago, when he first ran for the Northern Ontario Party in Thunder Bay-Atikokan, he vowed to change that, if he got elected.
Things didn’t exactly go as planned for Jones, who garnered 138 votes, just 0.52 per cent of all ballots cast, finishing seventh in a seven-candidate race.
Newswatch attempted to reach out to Jones to do a candidate profile, but did not hear back in time.
Ahead of the 2022 general election, Jones said the other parties simply didn’t offer the people of the region nearly enough.
“Other than every four years, they have not put the extra foot forward and actually said we are going to institute a manufacturing policy for Northern Ontario. Here is our actual plan for Northern Ontario. These parties have been elected and in power since our party was (formed) and we haven’t seen any results,” Jones said at the time.
“We’ve only seen population decline and we’ve only seen poverty grow in Northern Ontario.”
Jones is one of six names running in the 2025 provincial election, joining a field that includes the Green Party’s Eric Arner, the PC Party of Ontario’s Kevin Holland, the Ontario Liberal Party’s Stephen Margarit, the NDP’s Judith Monteith-Farrell and the New Blue Party’s Martin Tempelman.
Three years ago he said he had the voice to stand up for voters tired of the status quo and tired of being ignored by the south.
“Any voice at Queen’s Park is going to be a voice for the North. It doesn’t matter if we elect one person or we elect many people. At the end of the day we are trying to get involved in the narrative itself of Northern Ontario and really bring back some honesty into the electoral process,” Jones said.
In September, the party, which has run candidates in every Ontario election since 2010, unveiled its platform, promising to tackle doctor, nurse and lab technician shortages, drug addiction and unchecked questionable immigration.
Day-to-day economics and highway safety were also among their concerns, the party laying part of the blame on newcomers from other countries, substandard training and the lack of highway twinning across Northern Ontario.
“Northern Ontario needs more autonomy to elevate us to the level all Northern residents deserve. We need to have a prosperous future in the fast-changing environment of tomorrow. Northern Ontario needs a voice for Northern Ontario, from a proud Canadian and a proud Northern Ontarian,” reads the release from party leader Jacques Ouellette.
