Tilly Gordon named Conservative Party candidate for Miramichi riding
Published Friday September 5th, 2008
"Just tilt your chin down a bit. That's it."
At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening Tilly Gordon is sitting in Jim Bond's photo studio on Newcastle Boulevard having her campaign photos taken. First is one of her sitting down and Bond is trying to get her in just the right position. She has a few others poses she needs before she leaves the studio.
It's the latest item on a laundry list of tasks written out in a thick green spiral notebook that is never far from her side. She has a lot to get done.
If, as is expected, Prime Minister Stephen Harper asks the Governor General to dissolve the government sending Canadians to the polls in October, Gordon will be the Conservative Party candidate for the Miramichi riding.
The 59-year-old school teacher was selected by her party to fill the roll after candidate Bill Tozer announced he was removing himself from any potential election race to pursue a business opportunity.
Tilly, who has been involved in politics in one capacity or another since she was 18-years-old, said she has been frequently asked to run for office, but she's always hesitated.
"I'd love to a voice on the government side because I strongly believe with the poll results that Harper is going back. I think it's time for Miramichiers to wake up and see what's happening and we'd better get on the band wagon. My only drawback was I hated to leave my job in Burnt Church. I love my job in Burnt Church but the thing is I can certainly help the community in another capacity," she said.
Gordon was an elementary school teacher for 33 years, beginning in Escuminac before moving on to teach in Nelson, Chatham Head and at Ian Baille Primary in Chatham before retiring in 2003. She stayed retired for about a year, before she started to work at as a substitute teacher at the Burnt Church School.
"I was there two weeks and the principal came in and asked me how many days I could give them and I've been there ever since," she said.
Gordon said she thinks its time for a change and time for Miramichiers to elect someone other than current Liberal Party MP Charles Hubbard.
"The Conservatives, whether Harper gets a majority or a minority, I do believe it's Harper that's going back in and I think you get more from government if you're on the government side. Mr. Hubbard has probably done all he can do by being in the opposition but I think I can do better," she said.
On Tuesday Hubbard, who did not know who he would be running against in any potential election, said he'll deal with it when it comes.
"Well you're never prepared but it's sort of something that they've been threatening for some time. The latest I see in the papers this morning it's expected in the middle of October," he said. "We're heading out to a caucus meeting in Winnipeg Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and I suppose that will be the talk of the agenda if it would appear that an election is being called."
Hubbard also slammed Harper for the idea of calling an election this fall.
"Harper says ready or not it's going to be. Really, according to the law we passed, the election should be next October, — 2009 — but he says he wants one now," Hubbard said.
The current MP was first elected to office in 1993. Gordon said that's too long.
"It's 15 years … of the same person, the same ideas and he is 110 per cent behind Stéphane Dion so he's really following along with his ideas and that and I don't see Canadians as following along with that," she said.
One of the big items on the Liberal Party platform is a carbon tax. Called the "Green Shift" the plan would place a tax on fossil fuels. The tax would be imposed at the wholesale level, starting with $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide per year and increase to $40 per tonne in year four. The Liberals have said the average household might end up paying an extra $250 per year for heat and electricity.
Gordon said that's not sitting well with voters, especially in Miramichi where the population is older and oil heat is widely used.
"They are set in their ways with their oil and their old homes and they can't afford to have another tax put on to them," Gordon said "Wherever Dion goes he's getting hit with that and I don't see the Miramichi being any different than the rest of Canada."
Gordon said while she's tossing her hat into the ring at the very last minute she is prepared to work hard to win votes.
"My strategy for the campaign is door-to-door. I don't know what my workers will be planning, probably little things here and there for me, but if I can get out and get to see the people that's my biggest concern and that's where I think votes are won anyway," she said. "Lots of people know me. They know I'm a hard worker whether I was at school, whether I was on the church council or whatever I was on, I was a big time worker. I don't give up easily."
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Not that a Conservative government is likely to offer much to outlying regions like the Miramichi. The Tories are all for a mobile labour force folloing opportunity west, rather than regional development in the east.