THUNDER BAY – Lise Vaugeois is seeking the NDP nomination for Thunder Bay Superior North. She will challenge Andrew Foulds who declared his run at the nomination late in February. The announcement now means there will be a contested nomination for the New Democrats. There remains no action from the Progressive Conservatives in terms of a nomination.
Micheal Gravelle the Minister for Northern Development Mines and incumbent Liberal MPP will carry the banner forward for the Liberals.
Lise Vaugeois states, “We are in a critical time in the province. Liberal and Conservative governments continue to push an austerity agenda while corporations make record profits”.
“Respective liberal and conservative governments have cut corporate taxes while maintaining their subsidies leaving very little money to maintain public services—services that must continue to be based on addressing common goals and not exclusively on the need to generate profit,” asserts Vaugeois.
Lise Vaugeois seeks TBSN NDP nomination
A musician and educator, Lise Vaugeois has been engaged with Aboriginal rights, women’s rights, anti-racist and anti-poverty movements for the past 35 years.
In a statement from her campaign, “She believes that an informed and engaged public is the best defense against abuses of power and is our best hope for creating a society based on fairness, respect, sustainable economies, and an equitable distribution of resources”.
“Democracy requires much more than voting every four years; it requires continual, informed engagement to hold governments to account. Otherwise, we are leaving our quality of life to the interests of whoever has the deepest pockets and therefore the loudest voice.”
Vaugeois believes that recognizing and respecting aboriginal title and treaty rights is a pre-requisite to long term prosperity. “We need to re-imagine how we think about economic development in terms of sustainability, and quality of life”.
In seeking the nomination, the candidate is sounding a little like she is already on the campaign trail in the election.
Lise asserts, “Aboriginal communities must have the right to maintain the integrity of their lands without the threat that their water, air and land will become the dumping ground for industrial pollutants. Costly clean ups, usually paid out of public dollars, and apologies after the fact, can no longer be acceptable costs of doing business”.
She says, “The Ring of Fire has the potential to bring benefits to our region; however, the onus needs to be on mining operations to prove their ability to be responsible partners and stewards of the land. Otherwise, we are sentencing future generations to untenable social and environmental costs.”
Vaugeois is a contract lecturer at Lakehead University and is also a self-employed musician and artist-educator. She moved to Thunder Bay in 1992 to play with the TBSO and has since chosen to make Thunder Bay her home. “Everywhere I look in this community, there are people working together to make Thunder Bay a great place to live. We live in a beautiful part of the world and there is no place I would rather be. I spend my time kayaking on Lake Superior whenever the lake allows.”
