By Pepper Parr
December 17th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The day after she had secured the nomination as the candidate for the provincial Liberals in Burlington, Andrea Grebenc was putting together the team that will be out door knocking looking for votes in the election that could be held within the next 120 days.
Grebenc was surprised at the number of people who showed up to vote for her as the candidate; “It was a pretty steady flow of people.”
Finding the location wasn’t hard. “Many of the seniors who don’t get out to a hockey rink recognized where they were supposed to go explained Grebenc. “ One of my volunteers suggested we put out some of the lawn signs that I had used when I was running for the school board.” It was evident that Grebenc was already in election mode.
Despite having to spend the best part of a day at the hospital during the run up to the nomination Grebenc was in a fine mood.
Andrea Grebenc with Oliver Parker after the nomination vote was announced.
“I had a personal medical experience that was really painful. I waited for three and a half hours at Jo Brant before I saw anyone, then an additional four hours before I saw a doctor. Staff are overworked and there aren’t enough of them – something I will be focused on should I be elected.”
Grebenc has already received some training material from the Liberal Party, she has a call scheduled with party leader Bonnie Clark.
“I have been really fortunate in having former MPP Eleanor McMahon as a mentor. She really knows how the Legislature works. I will be a better MPP because of her.”
Along with putting together the campaign team there is the setting up of a bank account and bringing in the people who have fund raising experience.
What will Grebenc focus on? “Health, education and affordable housing are at the top of my list – and I will be commenting on the scandals that surround the Premier.
Andrea Grebenc had a really solid working relationship with former Director of Education Stewart Miller. When she was elected by her peers as Chair she proved to be exceptionally good at steering the narrative during the pandemic.
“I really hope the RCMP report on those land transactions is made public before the election. The public really needs to know what was done and who did what.
“I don’t understand why some of the people who were let go from government positions are still being paid.”
“I have a lot to learn” said Grebenc. Learning the procedural processes at Queen’s Park will take time – but for Andrea Grebenc – the first job is to put her campaign experience into play.
The Burlington Progressive Conservatives have yet to nominate their candidiate; incumbent Natalie Pierre has announced that she will not be running in the next election. The PC’s are going to be challenged to find someone in the demographic Grebenc is a part of. Her profile and her energy are going to be hard to match.
Her lawn signs out front of the event had “re-elect” written on them.. pretty misleading if you ask me. She’s lucky that conservatives don’t show up for debates because if the Q&A was any indication of Andrea’s abilities… We (liberals) have a problem.
She may be a good candidate but her party is doomed in this coming election.
Glad to see a focus on health and education….have had too much of beer and giving contracts to friends in the business community.