An exclusive interview with Ontario NDP leader Ms. Andrea Horwath

TamilCanadian is pleased to bring you exclusive interviews with leaders of the provincial political parties in Ontario. The upcoming Ontario provincial election to be held on October 6th, 2011 is crucial for an estimated 250,000 Tamil Canadians living in Ontario.


TamilCanadian had an exclusive interview with Ontario NDP leader Ms. Andrea Horwath. The interview was conducted by Sarujan Kanapathipillai.


Sarujan: With weeks to go in the election, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak to Tamil Canadian.

Andrea Horwath: My pleasure.

Sarujan: In May of 2009, the Tamil community in Canada was worried quite a bit. They were struggling with what was happening in Sri Lanka with the war. During that time, both the federal and provincial NDP parties were very supportive. Jack Layton, for example, called an emergency debate and he went out to meet Tamil Canadians that came out to Parliament Hill. You on the other hand wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister to join other countries in calling for a ceasefire to address the humanitarian concerns. Why did you do it? What was your motivation?

Andrea Horwath: I did it because there were so many Tamil Canadians lining the streets of University Ave. I had the opportunity to go and speak to folks and provide my support in a personal way. But it’s more than that, when you have a position of leadership, you try to intervene in a way that will make a difference and that’s why I sent that letter. It was both trying to put some pressure on to get some movement happening but also making sure that I spent some time talking to some people who were worried about their family members and relatives and what was happening in Sri Lanka.

Sarujan: Many have applauded the NDP in the Tamil community and have said that in an ideal world, they would always support NDP and that they would vote for NDP. However, some have said that we don’t live in an ideal world, sometimes choices are not between good and bad, it’s between good and good and it’s about making priorities and sacrifices and in that sense, they wonder if NDP can support all the promises that the party has made from a financial point of view? And if they will they be able to reduce the deficit, why were there all these …?

Andrea Horwath: In fact, we did cost our plan very carefully. We made a very prudent financial plan. We will be able to get rid of the deficit the same timelines as the other two parties and we didn’t promise the world. We put together some very practical first steps to get us to that ideal place. I think if people want to eventually to get to a place that is more ideal, they have to start voting that way. They have to trust in their values and they have to trust in their ideals sometimes because If they don’t we are always going to have half measures. I think people are ready to embrace something different and to try achieve even more – a government at the very least respects them and that listens to them and that wants to work hard to solve their problems.

Sarujan: In Scarborough-Rouge River, about 6 months ago, after 2 decades of Liberal rule, Rathika Sitsabaiesan was voted in by her constituents to represent them at Parliament Hill. She was NDP. Now Neethan Shan, a well-known member of the Tamil community is running in Scarborough-Rouge River again. Do you think it’s important to have a diverse office to represent the diverse population of Ontario and what do you hope to see in this election?

Andrea Horwath: I absolutely believe it’s important to have a diversity of voices at the legislature in my office particularly as well as on all the benches. I think we all own the space together. We all are collectively responsible for our communities, for our province. Unless we are engaging everybody in the ways to make it better and to make sure that we are meeting the needs of everyone, then we fail.

I look forward to having Neethan in the legislature with me as well as number of other candidates who are reflective of the broad diversity of our province both in terms of ethno-cultural, racial background as well as gender and orientation in terms of sexuality. It reflects who we are as Ontario and reflects our fabric and it needs to be mirrored in the decision making space of our legislature.

Sarujan: Thank you very much for your time.

Andrea Horwath: Thank you.

Courtesy: TamilCanadian

Published on: Oct 05, 2011 11:46:38 GMT

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