Queen’s grads of every political stripe

John Baird, Conservative

From MPP to MP

John Baird has made the switch, and swiftly, too.

The Queen’s alum, Arts ’92, relinquished his seat as a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party in the Ontario legislature this December to make a bid for federal politics.

Holding office from 1995 to 2005, most recently for the Ottawa riding of Nepean-Carleton, he’s now gunning for a seat in the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean.

“I just think that this country needs change so badly,” Baird told the Journal. “This [Liberal] government has really lost the moral authority to govern, [due to] the corruption, the scandal [and] the complete lack of vision for the country.”

Baird said he’s spent the majority of his time campaigning in his own riding, but said his interactions with Harper—whom he campaigned in the 2004 election—have been inspiring.

“This guy is a decent guy, an honest guy, thoughtful, he’s got a great demeanour to be a leader—prime minister,” Baird said. “He’s someone who listens. If you have an idea or suggestion, he’ll grill you on it: he instills a high standard with people around him.”

The Tories have gained a surge of support from Canadians, according to various polls, because of the presentation of the Conservative message, Baird said.

“I think Stephen Harper has been able to successfully define himself, what he stands for and what he doesn’t stand for, and that positive campaign has really resonated with voters,” he said.

Another swell in support has come from young voters, Baird said.

“I have more young people working on my campaign this election than ever before—a lot of young Canadians have followed the campaign,” he said. “Campaigns are where you stop comparing people to the almighty, you start comparing them to the alternative.

“Stephen Harper is not perfect; the Conservative party is not perfect. But I think it’s the very best option for the future of the country.”

The most important piece of policy the Conservatives will put in place, if elected, will be the Accountability Act, Baird said.

“To change the way the system works,” he said. “[As] our legislative priority, we should be able to get good support from even the New Democrats on that: [measures] like eliminating corporate contributions to political parties [and] strengthening whistle-blower protection.”

Baird brings to the candidacy his background as a minister in former Ontario Premier Mike Harris’ government. That government, known for its “Common Sense Revolution,” is remembered for making large cuts to provincial programs and taxes.

“Don’t forget, [Harris and Harper are] two different men, two different times, one was in 1995, and the other 2006, one was provincial and the other is federal,” Baird said. “One thing that they have in common is they are both men of their word, they both keep their promises.”

But Baird’s personal politics don’t always follow the party line. Describing himself as “more of a libertarian,” he said his support of same-sex marriage and pro-choice stance has been accepted by Harper, who has said he would reopen the same-sex debate if elected.

“If two people agree on everything, one person isn’t thinking,” Baird said. “[Harper] certainly respects my position, and if there are any votes, it’ll be a free vote.”

Attack ads run by the Liberals, which have suggested that voting Conservative would mean voting for a Harris-style government, don’t faze Baird.

“I think the Liberal ads are desperate, pathetic. They don’t talk about their own record in government, but they want to go back 11 years to talk about the record of a provincial government,” he said. “Canadians are just tired of all this criminal investigation, scandal, [and alleged] corruption, money laundering, kickbacks—they want to turn the page and elect a new government.”

Baird also criticized the Liberals for fostering a bad relationship with the U.S., which he said has hurt the Canadian economy.

“I think we’ve got to have a better relationship with our friends and neighbours, [although] it doesn’t mean we’re going to always agree with them.” he said. “If we’re going to hope the United States respects our differences, we’ve got to respect theirs.”

Baird added that the Conservative plan to cut the GST if elected—immediately by one per cent and later by another percentage point—will add up to some significant change for Canadians.

“Every time you pay your electricity bill, every time you pay your natural gas bill and taxes, every time you buy an automobile, when families buy an automobile, when they buy clothes, when they buy gasoline every week [they’ll save money]—it’s a tax cut that’s for real.”

Baird declined to predict the outcome of the election.

“I’m not a political pundit,” he said. “We’re going to keep working very hard up until election day, and hope to earn the respect and confidence of the Canadian people.”

Andrzej Antoszkiewicz, Liberal

Strategizing success

During an election campaign where the Liberals have been dogged by scandal, party faithful at the local level are focusing more on the “impressive” track record of Kingston and the Islands incumbent MP Peter Milliken, who’s held office for 17 years.

That’s not to say they haven’t noticed the effects of the Gomery report, income trust inquiry and Option Canada.

“Unfortunately, when you have one bad apple, people tend to, sometimes, condemn the entire tree,” Andrzej Antoszkiewicz, Sci ’02 and MSc ’05, told the Journal.

As Milliken’s deputy campaign manager, Antoszkiewicz—a former SGPS president (2003-2004)—has devoted his time and expertise in statistical analysis to convince voters that the Liberal party can, as their platform title states, “secure Canada’s success.” Antoszkiewicz said a lot of the concerns Canadians currently have with the national party stem from problems in a totally different province. By that, he said, he means the sponsorship scandal and the reaction to it in Québec.

Regardless, Antoszkiewicz says the Milliken campaign is hopeful.

“I would say in politics you have two different kinds of ridings. You have the ones where people vote for the candidates, and then you have ones where people vote for the party,” he said.

He counts the campaign he’s running among the former.

“On a federal level, I’m still cautiously optimistic that the Liberals will be able to hold some sort of minority,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said the Liberals have hurdles to overcome, such as the widely reported declining support in various polls.

“Even though I don’t put too much weight in them, it’s a large factor,” he said. “I’m a strong believer that polls tend to be a little bit causal in their effect on voters—whether they’re going up or going down.”

Antoszkiewicz said the Liberal party is placing a special focus on students in this election.

“This is the first time students are actually going to have a meaningful voice in Kingston on the election, because in previous elections, so few students have been around in the summer,” he said. “We’re really trying to talk to students to see what is important to them, see what kind of issues they have and see whether we can address those and how we can address those in the next parliament.”

The party’s strategy in Kingston has been to focus on what issues are important to the city, Antoszkiewicz said, which is why the Milliken campaign reacted with surprise and shock to the federally produced attack ads targeting the Conservatives.

“We were not expecting those ads, the campaign we’ve tried to run in Kingston has been muted,” he said, referring to an agreement between local parties to only post signs on private lawns. “To see this kind of ad is disappointing, [although] I think it’s inevitable in federal politics.

“But I can say from our office, this would not have been our first choice of action.”

Overall, however, Antoszkiewicz has great faith in the Liberals. He said he believes a strength of the party is that its members look to the big picture when writing policy.

“For example, Kyoto and the idea of adhering to those standards is vitally important, but if you destroy the economy doing so, and you do it in such a drastic matter, the consequences can in fact be more disastrous on the environment as a result of the fact that you then get higher unemployment, [and] your economy essentially becomes less efficient,” he said. “What I like about the Liberal party is they step back and say ‘OK, we have to change this, but how do we change it in such a way that everything will harmoniously work together still?

“That’s what I’ve seen over the past couple of years—there’s a synthesis, everything is sort of coming together, and Canada is starting to come together, and that really gets me excited.”

Greg Frankson, NDP

Drumming up votes

“When you wish, will your answers come clearly? / If I’m your boss, do you really need to fear me? / Do politicians make promises sincerely? / Or do they fabricate cuz we vote cavalierly?

…

Our times demand we stand tall and open wide / Dissenting voices carry all across the countryside / Now we expose their deep hypocrisy with warm pride / Cuz we will never let the slippery begin to slide”

—From “Challenge” by Greg Frankson, spoken word artist

It was words like these that made Alexa McDonough, former leader of the federal NDP party and incumbent for the riding of Halifax, first take notice of Greg Frankson, ArtSci ’98 and Ed ’99.

“I’m a spoken word artist and I was performing at the Council for Canadians general meeting. My performance was a political piece … which we got into a good discussion about, and we began a correspondence at that time. Then she asked me to participate in her campaign.”

Frankson, a former AMS president (1996-1997) was pleased to accept, but hasn’t always worn the NDP’s political stripes. When he attended Queen’s, he was a member of the campus Liberals.

“I saw what happened when the Martin people began their internal process of taking over the Liberal party, and frankly, was turned off by the tactics used,” he told the Journal. “I decided that I needed to remain true to what I believed and doing that: being part of an organization that believes in social justice, that believes in equality of people,[that] believes in a safe and clean environment and believes in the concept of participatory democracy—that all people’s voices should be represented in parliament. And that’s what the NDP does, so that’s why I decided, for this campaign, that I would re-enter the field.”

Frankson bid farewell to his residence in Ottawa and flew to Nova Scotia, where he’s been helping drum up the youth vote—through initiatives like organizing and performing at an Election Youth Jam—and learning the ropes for canvassing on the front lines.

“[A] successful outcome of this election is significantly more NDP members in the House [of Commons], to hold whichever party ends up forming government to account,” Frankson said, adding that he predicts another minority government. “It’s important for the defense of Canada’s core values and principles that the NDP be there as the nation’s conscience,” he said.

One particularly poignant experience on the campaign trail, he said, was knocking on doors with Muriel Duckworth, a 97-year-old peace activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

“I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with her and seeing people’s reactions to her and to the campaign in general,” Frankson said. “It’s just really inspiring, to see a woman at that advanced age care so much about what’s going on in her community to be out there.”

He said the experience has been a lesson for him that as Canadians, we can’t take the democratic process for granted.

“In lots of other places in the world, you don’t have that right and that ability,” he said. “So it’s always shocking to me that people don’t exercise their franchise. Shocking to me because I don’t think people understand how privileged they are.”

Frankson said he’s enjoyed campaigning with McDonough, who is “very fine” with no longer holding party leadership—a position she held from 1995 to 2003.

“She is very, very supportive of Jack Layton and thinks that Jack is doing an exceptional job and is a good team captain, as well as projecting a strong image as a leader should,” he said. “She’s very proud of how he’s led the party.”

Frankson has also had minority communities in mind during this campaign, something that’s always been close to his heart.

When Frankson was AMS president—the first black student to hold that office—he championed a project that named the Robert Sutherland room of the JDUC after the first black university graduate in Upper Canada, who graduated from Queen’s in 1852.

Reflecting on the number of minority candidates running in any of the parties for this election, a number which tends to remain low, he said there’s still progress to be made.

“People in the minority communities need to make themselves available to the candidates, and then the parties have to make themselves more accommodating and welcoming to the people of various ethnic backgrounds,” he said. “Once the politicians reach out to those communities, then those communities will begin to feel more welcome and part of the political process itself.”

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