In the first installment of TimminsToday's candidate profiles for the riding of Timmins-James Bay, we feature Todd Lever of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Lever is no stranger to politics, having served on Timmins city council as well as running for mayor in the 2014 municipal elections, finishing in second place.
He works as a lawyer and has his own firm in Timmins, Todd Lever Professional Corporation.
The riding has not seen a Liberal candidate elected since the 2000 federal election when Reg Belair won 54.2 percent of the vote.
From 1935 until 2004, the Timmins area elected a Liberal for their member of parliament.
In the 2011 federal election, the Liberals finished in third place in the riding, with candidate Marilyn Wood able to only garner 15.7 percent of the vote.
Lever sat down with TimminsToday to answer questions about his campaign as well as the developments at the national level.
Q - Why did you decide to run in this election?
A - I've been involved in municipal politics in the past, and I've always wanted to run for office at higher levels of government.
But in particular, because of our leader Justin Trudeau and his focus on the middle class, and his approach to a different type of government.
A different type of leadership is what enticed me specifically and wanting to represent and advocate for the residents of our riding.
Q - With the very large geographic size of the Timmins-James Bay riding, what sort of challenges does that add?
A - A large portion of voters in the riding are along the James Bay coast, which of course, we don't have road access to.
That creates challenges.
There are many fly-in First Nations communities all the way up to Peawanuck. Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Albany, Moosonee.
We go as far southeast as Kirkland Lake.
It's challenging because most ridings are square blocks of cities or suburbs.
Q - Were you caught off guard by the early election call by Stephen Harper?
A - Not really.
They would have planned that they were calling that election for a long time.
It coincided with everybody getting their Child Care Benefit cheque.
And because they changed the rules for spending, it allows them to spend more than double than in the last election.
Changing the rules to benefit Stephen Harper, that's his M.O. so it wasn't unexpected.
Q - How do you feel Justin Trudeau fared in the first Leader's Debate?
A - I thought he did really well.
He was himself.
He was passionate.
He was assertive and I think people finally started to see the real Justin Trudeau as opposed to the version the Conservatives are trying to present to Canadians.
It certainly gave us a lot of confidence that we are on the right path.
We need to continue to focus on getting our message and our plan out, because we're very confident that when people compare the three main parties, we have the best overall plan to move Canada in the right direction.
Q - Trudeau's plan is to grow the middle class. If elected, what will you do to increase the middle class in the Timmins-James Bay area?
A - The party's plan as a whole will benefit, because we are working class, middle class residents mostly in Timmins-James Bay.
For anyone with an income between $45,000 and $90,000, we have our middle class tax break, that brings the tax bracket from 22 down to 20.5 percent.
That's basically a shift of getting tax dollars from the middle class, and instead, from anyone making over $200,000.
It will be more money in middle class Canadians pockets.
They'll spend more money and the economy cycles.
As well, our plan creates a single tax-free child care benefit that will benefit 9 out of 10 families.
We recently had a policy announcement where we will commit to matching the level of education funding for First Nations education to provincial education funding.
It's really quite baffling why they're not at least equal.
As well as investments in First Nations infrastructure, which will benefit this riding.
Q - You've spoken passionately against Canada Post ending it's door-to-door delivery service, siding with the New Democratic Party's position.
A - We have pretty much the same position.
Our position right now is frankly, we don't trust Stephen Harper and their numbers, and how they came up with this plan.
Our position is to stop the end of door-to-door, and go back and look at everything, figure out how we can keep door-to-door delivery.
I'm happy with the party's position on Canada Post.
Q - The Canadian dollar is well below 80 cents these days. Has the Harper government's Economic Action Plan worked for Canada?
A - The Economic Action Plan really benefited marketers and advertisers.
$750 million dollars in commercials, to tell us what a great plan they have, when in fact it's kind of non-existent.
What really drives our economy locally, is investment from resource based industries, mining in particular.
Q - Where do you stand on the development of the Ring of Fire?
A - The Conservatives have now taken a completely hands-off approach to the Ring of Fire.
Whereas Tony Clement, a couple of years ago was calling us the 'Oil Sands of Ontario'.
Now they are not prepared to put any money in, until the economic conditions are correct.
Well anyone who knows mining, knows that infrastructure is important.
Investments need to be ongoing.
The market conditions for Chromite are optimal right now.
We need to look at Northern Ontario differently than just some remote, back-country frontier.
There is massive economic opportunity up here and it needs to be developed.
Q - Voter turnout will be a huge factor in the outcome of this election. Why is it so important for everyone to vote?
A - People have to realize this is their country, their future.
What do they want for themselves and their children.
That's what it's all about.
We try and get out there and explain how important it is to people.
I think the average Canadian takes it seriously.
Some end up not finding the time to go vote, and there's other people who aren't concerned one way or the other.
I think we're going to see a higher voter turnout this time around, because Stephen Harper has been in power for almost 10 years and people are really ready for a change of approach in government for Canada.”
Election 2015
Read Part 1 of TimminsToday's interview with NDP candidate Charlie Angus
Read Part 2 of TimminsToday's interview with NDP candidate Charlie Angus.
Read Part 2 of TimminsToday's interview with Liberal candidate Todd Lever
