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Minutes after he was declared the winner in a race that saw him oust Liberal incumbent Yasir Naqvi, Joel Harden picked up an acoustic guitar emblazoned with stickers and led supporters in a rousing rendition of the tune “Lean On Me.”
Joel Harden is leading those at his victory party tonight with the song ‘Lean On Me.’ #ONElxn #OntarioVotes2018 pic.twitter.com/k84rCj4O4E
— Matthew Pearson (@mpearson78) June 8, 2018
It was a curious choice for the newly-elected MPP, who says he built his grassroots campaign in Ottawa Centre to be about more than him.
“It’s not about Joel, it’s about us and building the strength of us,” Harden said Thursday night, as the gap between him and Naqvi grew.
A career community organizer, university lecturer and education researcher, Harden, 46, was painted by the Progressive Conservatives during the campaign as “radical,” in part because he publicly backs the “Leap Manifesto,” a set of ideas that’s pretty leftist even by NDP standards. It proposes radical reductions in fossil-fuel use, big moves to improve life for Indigenous people and nearly wide-open borders.
Asked if he now has to prove to residents he’s not who he’s been painted as by opponents, Harden said he is inspired by the NDP’s “socialist tradition,” naming Tommy Douglas, Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton as political mentors.
“Those are my values, that’s where I come from, but I want to build things and if there is anybody in this province that wants to tear this province down to some narrow ideological design, it’s not me,” he said.
Harden added the word “radical” needs to be unpacked.
“When some people were accusing me personally of being radical, what I thought they were saying was reckless, that my ideas were reckless. And to be honest, what I find reckless is modest solutions to climate change, what I find reckless is putting teachers in classrooms with 31 (junior and senior kindergarten) kids, and having teachers get hurt in the process.”
As MPP, Harden committed himself to regular townhall meetings, “where we can bring the brightest and most engaged minds of our community together every month to make sure that we’re making the right decisions, that we have the right ideas coming to Queen’s Park.”
“I don’t want to feel like I have to come up with the answers,” he said.
Harden’s victory was the culmination of a months-long effort that began in earnest after he secured the nomination last fall and asked community organizer Jill O’Reilly to manage the campaign.
O’Reilly, who honed her skills building up the anti-poverty group Ottawa ACORN, says she agreed to take the job because Harden is hard-working and principled. And “he was willing to do the work,” she said.
People advised O’Reilly not to waste time sending volunteers to knock on doors in condo and apartment buildings. They told her not to bother with the Glebe. But she ignored them. “We knocked on every one of them.”
“Elections are not rocket science — it’s all about volume and organizing and talking to as many people,” O’Reilly said.
By campaign’s end, some 1,200 people had volunteered.
In Harden, Ottawa Centre now has an MPP on the opposition benches, after years of enjoying a representative who served in numerous influential cabinet roles, including attorney general.
Harden said he knows the public’s expectations are high and he pledged to work with his NDP colleagues to hold the new PC government to account and highlight the need for expanded child care, universal dental care, more home care for seniors and a fix to Ontario’s opioid crisis.
Having recognized Naqvi leaves behind a legacy of “hard work and tenacity,” Harden says he will adopt his predecessor’s habit of knocking on doors between elections.
“It’s the only way to know what’s really happening in your community.”
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
Joel Harden is leading those at his victory party tonight with the song ‘Lean On Me.’ #ONElxn #OntarioVotes2018 pic.twitter.com/k84rCj4O4E
— Matthew Pearson (@mpearson78) June 8, 2018
It was a curious choice for the newly-elected MPP, who says he built his grassroots campaign in Ottawa Centre to be about more than him.
“It’s not about Joel, it’s about us and building the strength of us,” Harden said Thursday night, as the gap between him and Naqvi grew.
A career community organizer, university lecturer and education researcher, Harden, 46, was painted by the Progressive Conservatives during the campaign as “radical,” in part because he publicly backs the “Leap Manifesto,” a set of ideas that’s pretty leftist even by NDP standards. It proposes radical reductions in fossil-fuel use, big moves to improve life for Indigenous people and nearly wide-open borders.
Asked if he now has to prove to residents he’s not who he’s been painted as by opponents, Harden said he is inspired by the NDP’s “socialist tradition,” naming Tommy Douglas, Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton as political mentors.
“Those are my values, that’s where I come from, but I want to build things and if there is anybody in this province that wants to tear this province down to some narrow ideological design, it’s not me,” he said.
Harden added the word “radical” needs to be unpacked.
“When some people were accusing me personally of being radical, what I thought they were saying was reckless, that my ideas were reckless. And to be honest, what I find reckless is modest solutions to climate change, what I find reckless is putting teachers in classrooms with 31 (junior and senior kindergarten) kids, and having teachers get hurt in the process.”
As MPP, Harden committed himself to regular townhall meetings, “where we can bring the brightest and most engaged minds of our community together every month to make sure that we’re making the right decisions, that we have the right ideas coming to Queen’s Park.”
“I don’t want to feel like I have to come up with the answers,” he said.
Harden’s victory was the culmination of a months-long effort that began in earnest after he secured the nomination last fall and asked community organizer Jill O’Reilly to manage the campaign.
O’Reilly, who honed her skills building up the anti-poverty group Ottawa ACORN, says she agreed to take the job because Harden is hard-working and principled. And “he was willing to do the work,” she said.
People advised O’Reilly not to waste time sending volunteers to knock on doors in condo and apartment buildings. They told her not to bother with the Glebe. But she ignored them. “We knocked on every one of them.”
“Elections are not rocket science — it’s all about volume and organizing and talking to as many people,” O’Reilly said.
By campaign’s end, some 1,200 people had volunteered.
In Harden, Ottawa Centre now has an MPP on the opposition benches, after years of enjoying a representative who served in numerous influential cabinet roles, including attorney general.
Harden said he knows the public’s expectations are high and he pledged to work with his NDP colleagues to hold the new PC government to account and highlight the need for expanded child care, universal dental care, more home care for seniors and a fix to Ontario’s opioid crisis.
Having recognized Naqvi leaves behind a legacy of “hard work and tenacity,” Harden says he will adopt his predecessor’s habit of knocking on doors between elections.
“It’s the only way to know what’s really happening in your community.”
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
