By Pepper Parr
May 6th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The Burlington Provincial Liberal Association met for their AGM on April 17th.
The following are the people who chose to run for position on the association executive.
Candidates for Executive Offices
President – Lisa Mayeski
VP – (Vacant)
VP at Large – John Syko
Large – (Vacant)
Secretary – Ancilla Ho-Young
Treasurer – Sandy O’Reilly
Director – Hamza Ansari
Director – Roble Osoble
Director – Noah Parker
Director – Gayle Laws
Director – Sima Acan
Director – Catherine Donnars-Hodgson
Talha Celik
Peter Hodgson
Gloria Turney
Director – (Vacant)
Lisa Mayeski – BPLA President
Lisa Mayeski has been the president for the past couple of years and is running for that position again. She commented: “It has been my honour to serve as BPLA President over the past three years and work along side our dedicated board of directors and members. I am proud of the accomplishments of BPLA to date and I am committed to ensuring we are in the best position possible moving forward into the next election so that we can turn Burlington red again. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the incredible work done by the BPLA board, including arranging the meet and greets with each of the Leadership candidates, and thank our members and volunteers for their continued engagement and support. Moving forward I hope to continue serving as your association president and look forward to executing BPLA’s plan to expand member and community outreach initiatives.”
The association was very active when the party was deciding who the new leader would be. Bonnie Crombie won that position but not on the first ballot.
Galen Naidoo-Harris with provincial Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie: It rained on their parade.
There isn’t much in terms of the associations part in the Milton by-election. Andrea Grebenc had an: “Interesting day out in rural Burlington today. A lot of people seem quite upset with Ford about not keeping his promises about the stopping the quarries, spending our tax dollars on a foreign spa at Ontario place, paving prime farmland for the 413, and not investing enough into healthcare and education (not keeping up with inflation is a CUT!)
“Even got a couple of signs out for Galen Naidoo Harris (Liberal candidate). Please vote May 2 and send a message to Doug that we do not condone his terrible governance, his broken promises, and wasting our hard-earned tax dollars.”
The provincial Liberals needed a win in Milton badly. The provincial Progressive Conservatives were all over the riding
With the Milton by-election now decided – the Progressive Conservatives held the seat – it is worth a look at how much campaigning the local Liberals were able to do in what was seen by many as a critical campaign for Burlington; the north western part of the city is within the Milton boundary.
The federal House of Commons seat for Milton is held by a Liberal.
The Gazette doesn’t recall seeing any call for campaign teams to canvas the part of the riding within the constituency boundary.
Every political association knows that it takes boots on the ground and heavy door to door campaigning to win. There is very little on the Burlington Liberal associations web site
At this point there is not yet a list of who the members of the association posted on their web site.
The next provincial election is to be held in June of 2026. The Progressive Conservatives are preparing to holds their nomination meeting with several candidates out there beating the bushes for support.
The riding has been held by Liberals in the past and can be taken back – but not with the level of involvement we have seen so far.
When you consider the number of times the provincial PCs under Ford have screwed up it’s a wonder they are still in power. They owe a lot of their good fortune to luck, public apathy and a hapless provincial Liberal Party that can’t seem to get their act together.
Crombie and company should have won the Milton by-election in a “cake walk”. Combine high public dissatisfaction with Ford and the pitiful track record of his motley crew, a new provincial leader, and then add in a multi-cultural riding with an increasingly younger population, and you have the elements for success. Despite this they still managed to lose. Almost as pitiful as the Toronto Maple Leafs!
Lets look at this another way.
Problem 1 The Liberal Party made a conscious or unconscious move to shift to the left of the NDP.
Problem 2 The two leaders of note, Ms. Kathleen Wynne and now Mr. Justin Trudeau rather than do what was good for the party, decided they would rather take the party down with them than give up the reins. (Me thinks this is the definiton of a selfish leader)
Problem 3 The party members rode along on the WOKE horse way too long.
I think that the Liberal brand was destroyed by Kathleen Wynne and is being buried by the general dislike for Justin Trudeau. Bonnie Crombie obviously didn’t cause a stir in Milton and might not over the rest of the province. This article is correct. There is a huge boots on the street movement needed if the Liberals are even going to get to official party status in the future.