Open-door policy for Orleans NDP candidate

Orleans NDP candidate Nancy Tremblay.
Orleans NDP candidate Nancy Tremblay.

By Rick Garrick

ORLEANS – A non-status Abenaki scientist and entrepreneur originally from the Saguenay region of Quebec is running for the New Democratic Party in the Orléans riding.

“I want to have a very open-door policy where people can communicate (their) issues and feel like they are making some movement forward as opposed to kind of spinning in a circle,” says Nancy Tremblay, a founding member of the Orléans NDP Riding Association who turns 32 in early October. “We all have our own lives, we all know what is important to us — until you listen to what someone says is important to them, you don’t know what their life is like, you don’t know the struggles they go through.”

Tremblay earned an honours biology degree at Trent University and has worked as an environmental scientist with the federal government for about 10 years. About eight years ago she and her husband bought a farm and have since created an equestrian centre in Carlsbad Springs.

“I would get up every morning and go do chores before I went to work,” Tremblay says. “Then I would go home, get my kids from daycare and do chores. Now it is self-sustainable — we have been able to hire people to take care of the day-to-day operations.” Tremblay is the Aboriginal representative with the NDP’s eastern Ontario caucus. She is also the first Aboriginal candidate in the riding, which has about a three per cent Aboriginal population.

Tremblay says the response to her campaign has been amazing.

“I work so hard throughout the day all the time and then at the end of the day I go door knocking,” Tremblay says. “That’s where I get my energy back, from talking to amazing people who are supportive. There are a lot of people who are on the fence — this is the first year they are considering the NDP. I’m just getting a really positive energy and I’m feeding off of that.”

Tremblay says the riding has never voted for an NDP candidate before, noting the riding always votes for the government.  “There is definitely a wave effect coming here with the NDP doing so well nationally,” Tremblay says. “Because of that, this is one of the first times people are considering the NDP. It’s awesome to be part of it.”

Tremblay champions the NDP’s plans for $15-a-day childcare, noting that many families are struggling to make ends meet when they have to pay $2,000 a month for childcare.

“Some people end up staying home and if they stay home they don’t develop their career,” Tremblay says. “Or if they go to work, after they take away how much they are paying for gas and a second car, and then their childcare, they are going to work for hardly any pay.”

Tremblay also wants to work on establishing a light rail system through the area, noting there are many public servants who commute to work every day in Ottawa or Gatineau. “I feel I represent our riding so much better because I am the only candidate who lives in the riding,” Tremblay says, noting the Liberal and Conservative candidates do not live in the riding. “I am an entrepreneur, I am a scientist with Environment Canada, I am a mother, I know the struggles that people go through in this riding.”

As a federal pollution specialist, Tremblay is calling for the environment to be more of a priority with the government. “It is very important,” Tremblay says. “There will be an emphasis on that in my local platform.”