The Millstone will profile of all provincial election candidates who were present at the All Candidates' Meeting at the Almonte Old Town Hall on September 15. The first candidate to reply to the Millstone is Scott Simsur, the Green Party Candidate. The Millstone will ask all candidates the same six questions it asked Mr. Simser.
- Tell us about yourself
- What motivated you to become a candidate for your party?
- What is the most compelling aspect of your party's platform?
- What is your greatest personal strength?
- What is your greatest weakness?
- Why should we vote for you?
Here are Mr. Simser's responses to those questions:
I am a long-time resident of this riding and grew up here. I am married with three young sons, aged 12, 8, and 4. I am deaf, my wife is hard of hearing, and all three of our children have normal hearing, so it makes for interesting dynamics when communicating in the home. I regularly speak and lipread, but am also fluent in sign language. I have a Bachelor of Commerce, a MBA, and a law degree. I am licenced as a lawyer and also as a professional accountant (CMA) in Ontario. For eight years, I ran my own law and consulting practice, advising small businesses and individuals. I have advocated for my clients in tribunals and courts in this province, including the courts of appeal. For my education, I was fortunate in being able to get real-time captioning in law school so I could better follow the courses. In courts, I also have access to real-time captioning which allows me to understand everything everyone is saying. There seems to be a growing trend in courts to adopt live transcripts of the proceedings, even if there is nobody with a hearing loss.
I was motivated to be a candidate for the Green Party of Ontario because the Green Party is very focussed on community. In our approach to health care, energy, and land use planning, we see the community as the focal point. As well, I was attracted to the Green Party because it is both fiscally conservative and socially progressive. For example, it is the only main party that advocates a zero deficit as early as fiscal 2015-2016.
To me, the most compelling aspect of my party's platform is its promise to save $30 billion in additional debt and $2 billion in annual interest expenses by committing to a zero deficit in 2015-2016. The world economy is very fragile and Ontario is not immune. Sooner or later, we will have to face economic reality, which is why being proactive with our government spending is so important.