Gloria Kovach is no stranger to tough races
or Federal politics. The stalwart city councillor has represented the people in
her ward for 18 year now, as well as representing the interests of Canadian
urbanites nationwide for a times as President of the Federation of Canadian
Municipalities. Now her desire to take things to the next level and be elected
as the city’s first Conservative Member of Parliament since 1993.
“Certainly I’ve had a lot of exposure in
representing cities and communities across Canada at
the national and international level,” says Kovach during our phone interview
last week. “I’m dedicated to building a better and stronger Canada
and I think that my experience in Guelph, both as an elected official and in my other capacities, will help
me fully represent Guelph’s interests in Ottawa.”
Aside from her high profile work on behalf
of Guelph and other Canadians, Kovach highlights working in Uganda with women’s
and children’s groups, dealing with emergency planning and waste management
issues in the Czech Republic, and working with people in El Salvador, Columbia,
and Vietnam as examples of her qualifications. Back home on council though,
she’s most proud of her work in creating the youth council as a way to bring
the needs and concerns of young people to the floor. “Also being a nurse and
working directly with the people in a healthcare field, understanding the
challenges they face, their needs, and just directly working with people on the
ground is good experience,” she says.
As for making the shift to Federal politics
now, Kovach says she was asked to consider running eight or nine years, but
like a lot of women with young families, she didn’t like the idea of being away
from home and doing all that travelling. “I’m a roll up your sleeves kind of
person,” she explains. “It’s a huge dedication. For me it was important for my
children to be grown before I entered into the Federal field.” She adds that,
“This is the best time for me and given my experience this is the time for me
to run federally.”
Kovach says that those years working and
living Guelph has given her an appreciation for the diversity of the city as well
as its needs as outlined by the people. Getting out and meeting the people has
been key to her campaign, says Kovach. “Our focus is still getting out with the
people of Guelph and door-knocking and seeing what issues are most important to
them. So I’ve continued to do that and I’ve continued to go out to events and
really connect with the people of Guelph.”
The big issue and challenge that people are
concerned about, Kovach says, is taxation, and whether the Liberals proposed
Green Shift plan will have negative impact on their pocket book. “People are
concerned generally about how they’re going to be able to afford to continue to
live in their homes, or perhaps purchase a home, or how their children are
actually going to be able to afford to live with the increased cost of living,”
she says. “They’re concerned with the overall picture, they don’t necessarily
differentiate between federal, provincial and municipal.”
Kovach says that she’s concerned about the
Liberals assurance that the Carbon Tax, as outlined in the Green Shift, will be
revenue neutral saying that, “If you look at the Gun Registry, that cost us
billions of dollars and that was supposed to be neutral as well.” She believes
that under the plan, families will have to struggle, and writes off the plan as
simply “a way for rich people to not have to reduce their green house gases and
be able to buy their way out.”
Obviously, there’s a lot of hope amongst
the Conservatives to make a breakthrough in Guelph, which could
hopefully lead to an increase in the Tories fortunes throughout Ontario. Apropos,
a number of highly-profile members have come to the Royal City to offer
support; from Defense Minister Peter MacKay to Environment Minister John Baird
to the Prime Minister himself. “There’s been a lot of support coming in from my
colleagues and I’m very appreciative to them,” says Kovach. “[They] are very
understanding of meeting with everyday Canadians and finding out what their
issues are and what they’d like to see.”
To follow the campaign and get news and
commentary on the by-election, please visit my blog at
http://guelphbyelectionbeat.blogspot.com
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