Audrey Bell has never voted for the New Democratic Party, but the local senior might have been swayed Thursday night.
Bell was in the audience during the all-candidates meeting in Orillia council chambers, hoping to be persuaded to vote for one of them.
She left with a better idea of the candidates’ platforms, but she still isn’t sure who will get her support on June 7.
“I have never voted NDP, but I like her very much,” Bell said of Simcoe North candidate Elizabeth Van Houtte. “I like Jill (Dunlop, Progressive Conservative candidate), but I don’t like (PC Leader Doug) Ford. It’s too bad we didn’t get Christine Elliott.”
In addition to Van Houtte and Dunlop, the choices for Simcoe North voters are Gerry Marshall (Liberal), Valerie Powell (Green) and Cynthia Sneath (Libertarian).
Scott Maclagan went into the meeting undecided, and that’s how he left, though he “favoured one” after hearing them out.
“I just wanted clarification,” he said. “I feel sorry for the smaller parties, wasting their time and money, because they don’t have a hope. They have some good ideas.”
Jim Thompson is doing some soul searching after attending the event.
“My heart’s kind of with the Green party, although I really value a lot of the NDP’s (ideas). I felt she was really speaking from the heart,” he said of Van Houtte. “Until we have proportional representation, I’m forced to engage in strategic voting, unfortunately.”
While he still doesn’t know who will get his vote, he has made his mind up about who will not.
“I know I will not vote Progressive Conservative. I would be shocked to have a government led by Doug Ford.”
Anna Bourgeois was in the same boat.
“I have two favoured candidates at this point. I like the NDP and Green platforms,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind seeing the PC party out of Simcoe North. They’ve been here a long time. It’s time for a change.”
For others, the PCs are the only way to go.
Dann Oliver went into the meeting sporting a Jill Dunlop pin, and he still had it on when he left.
Oliver was a card-carrying Liberal when Pierre Trudeau took over the party’s reins in the late 1960s, but Trudeau’s policies on taxes eventually led Oliver to jump ship, and he hasn’t looked back.
After hearing the candidates speak, Oliver was sure he had spotted a conservative in liberal clothing.
“It’s too bad Gerry Marshall couldn’t find a riding to run in as a conservative,” Oliver said. “The way he approaches business, the way he approaches growth — it’s conservative.”
