On the first day of the 2018 Ontario election campaign, Timmins NDP candidate Gilles Bisson and his team were ready to go.
This morning, pickup trucks with large orange election signs rolled out of Lloyd Richards Moving and Cartage lot.
“Campaigns are exciting, it’s a lot of work, it’s very intense,” said Bisson. “Over the years we’ve built up a very good team and obviously with the amount of trucks and volunteers we have out today, all our large signs should be pretty well up by the end of the day if not by tomorrow.”
This is the eighth election campaign for the incumbent NDP, who was first elected in 1990.
“My job in this campaign is to let people know, listen I’ve represented this riding for 28 years. I’ve worked very hard, I represent people in an effective way and you got a guy with experience who knows what he’s doing and is approachable, and that’s important. I’ll continue to run on my record and I think New Democrats are going to do quite well in this election,” he said.
There is something different about this campaign.
The ridings have changed and Timmins is on its own, whereas before the boundaries extended up Highway 11 to the James Bay Coast.
Bisson said the issues are the same, though.
“We all care about the same things, the price of gas, we care about our northern highways, we care about our hydro prices, we care about good, strong public services like healthcare and education for our kids,” he said.
Including Bisson, so far there are four candidates vying for the Timmins seat.
PC candidate Yvan Genier is opening his campaign office, which will be located at 190 Third Ave., on Friday.
Mickey Auger is the Liberal candidate, and Gary Schaap is running for the Northern Ontario Party.
Election day in Ontario is June 7.
