[getsmart-l] Hwy. 404 expansion top priority for Liberal candidate

[Janet May]

Story from:
http://www.yorkregion.com/yr/yr4/YR_News/Newscentre/Advocate/story/3932330p-
4544363c.html

 

Liberals hope 'star' will unseat Julia Munro
Hwy. 404 expansion top priority for candidate

Apr 4, 2007
John Slykhuis, Staff Writer 


(Georgina) - The York-Simcoe provincial Liberals have fielded a "star"
candidate in an attempt to unseat longtime Progressive Conservative MPP
Julia Munro. 

Jackson's Point businessman John Gilbank was unanimously endorsed at a
nomination meeting at the Lakeside Resort in Jackson's Point Sunday
afternoon. 

He was nominated by former Liberal MP Karen Kraft Sloan and Dr. George
Burrows, Georgina's first mayor. 

Mrs. Kraft Sloan, who represented both the York-Simcoe and Newmarket-Aurora
ridings from 1993 until 2004, praised Mr. Gilbank as a candidate who can win
back the riding. 

"John is a leader," she said. "A decent and thoughtful man." 

Dr. Burrows, last year's Ontario Family Physician of the Year, thanked the
McGuinty government for its contributions to the health care system. 

He joked DNA analysis on a hair from PC leader John Tory revealed, "He's a
clone of Mike Harris", to widespread laughter. 

"You guys have a star candidate in your midst," Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge MPP
Wayne Arthurs told about 70 Liberal supporters. 

Mr. Arthurs, the keynote speaker, warned a vote for the conservatives would
bring back the Ernie Eves-Mike Harris era. Mr. Gilbank has also secured the
endorsement of Bradford-West Gwillimbury Mayor Doug White and former
Newmarket-Aurora candidate John Taylor, both of whom were in attendance. 

Mr. Gilbank, 60, was a nationally recognized corporate leader and a former
diplomat. He and his wife Lynn purchased and restored the Jackson's Landing
heritage home at the tip of Jackson's Point. They have two sons in
university, Ben and Rich. 

He told his supporters the next step will be winning the Oct. 10 provincial
election. "That will require getting about 25,000 people to vote for a new
candidate, about 5,000 of them to switch from the party they have been
voting for," he said, adding, "I'm confident it can be done." 

Mr. Gilbank said he wants to raise the profile of the riding at Queen's
Park. "It means fully using the potential influence of the position to make
good things happen, for the province as a whole and particularly for this
area." He said "A lot of thoughtful people have been telling me they believe
this region has been neglected for many years. We must turn that situation
around and put York-Simcoe on the agenda." 

He said he will go about the job like he did when he was in charge of
handling business turnarounds, rescuing large corporations. "In many ways
it's also similar to how Lynn and I turned around that big dilapidated house
down the street and restored it." 

For the upcoming campaign, Mr. Gilbank said he will need more than 100
volunteers, urging those in the audience to sign up to help. In addition, he
said he has also used his son Rich's new media expertise to launch a high
speed campaign website www.johngilbank.com which will include video clips. 

Locally, he said the issues include the continuing campaign to clean up Lake
Simcoe, managing growth, especially that which has leapfrogged the greenbelt
boundaries in Bradford-West Gwillimbury and Innisfil and bringing Hwy. 404
to Keswick to encourage industrial-commercial growth.. "The establishment of
the greenbelt by the current government has proven valuable to East
Gwillimbury and Georgina in managing growth," he said. 

He also pledged to work to clean up the abandoned smelter site on Warden
Avenue "which has been neglected for a decade...I'll commit myself to it",
he said. 

First elected in 1995, Georgina resident Julia Munro has already won her
party's nomination. The NDP are expected to name their candidate later this
spring. So far they have one candidate, Bradford resident Nancy Morrison. 

The move comes as new riding boundaries take effect for the next election. 

The new riding of York-Simcoe contains the towns of Innisfil and
Bradford-West Gwillimbury in Simcoe County, as well as northern King
Township and the towns of Georgina and East Gwillimbury in York Region. 

Julia Munro's website is www.juliamunrompp.com

 

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