EGANVILLE — Lifelong fighter for fairness and social justice, Ethel LaValley won the provincial NDP nomination in
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke and came out fighting.
In her acceptance speech to party members, she spoke about her own struggles as a young woman just out of high school in Bancroft. After a spell of work in Toronto, she got a part-time job in Algonquin Park, where she realized part-timers there had poor working conditions and could barely get by, so she organized them into a union.
She said things are even rougher for young people today.
“I don’t think my 19-year old grandson will be moving out of my daughter’s house for quite a while,” she said. “He can’t afford it. And I believe the $14 an hour the Conservatives go on an on and on about won’t drive anyone out of business. John Yakabuski has it wrong in my opinion. It’s about treating people fairly.”
Ms. LaValley has had a remarkable career of achievement, considering her humble roots as a Pikwakanagan Algonquin growing up in the remote community of Whitney on the edge of Algonquin Park. As a result of
her effectiveness organizing workers, she rose rapidly through the union movement to one of its highest positions in all Ontario. At the same time, she was elected Reeve of the former Airy Township three times and then Mayor of the newly-amalgamated Township of South Algonquin. As a municipal leader, she helped build a health centre and served on health unit and hospital boards of directors.
“I want to run to bring a new voice to this riding because I agree with our leader Andrea Horwath that we need change for the better,” Ms. LaValley said. “We have an obligation to bring back hope. It’s tough to see people looking so worn and tired just from everyday life. We need change for the better very quickly. We can’t wait for seven generations for that.”
Ms. LaValley is deeply aware of her aboriginal roots, beginning her speech by saying “Welcome to the unceded territories of the Algonquins, and please allow me to welcome you here tonight.”
She began by thanking her spiritual advisor, Elder Jane Ann Chartrand of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan.
As an Aboriginal woman, she has suffered her share of intolerance, Ms. LaValley said. At two o’clock in the morning after she was first elected to township Council, someone phone her with a racial insult. As a result, she made herself a resolution. “No one was ever going to refer to me or anyone else that way,” she said. “I could have cried, and I did. But it made me so determined to fight for the things I fought for. It was what ignited me.”
Ms. LaValley was harshly critical of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in her remarks.
“She has focused on herself and her party instead of people,” she said. “She sold off Hydro One, and made cuts to public services we count on, like health care and home care. Anyone who’s visited a hospital ER in recent years knows this. Anyone waiting on surgery or trying to get a parent into care knows this. School parents, whose kids don’t get the attention they need know this.”
She was equally critical of Doug Ford’s Conservatives.
“He’s not telling us his plans, but we know that under him, there will be massive service cuts and thousands of jobs lost,” she stated. “The last Conservative government cut 6,000 nurses, closed 28 hospitals and eliminated 7,000 hospital beds.”
She continued, “Kathleen Wynne has us down, and Doug Ford would make things worse. It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time for a plan that offers change for the better, and an NDP government that puts people at the heart of every decision. Together we can build a hopeful future for Ontario.”
(press release)
