My NOP, Your NOP

The election is over. We fought the good fight and can take pride in all the great things the Northern Ontario Party accomplished in 2018's campaign.

I want to take a moment and thank everyone involved with the NOP—candidates, party members, and supporters. Not only did we field a slate of ten candidates throughout the North but we raised local issues the traditional parties would otherwise have avoided.

My experience as an NOP candidate has been nothing but positive. Are there things that I'd change? Sure. Could other things have gone better? Again, sure. But rather than focus on the handful of glitches I want to take a page out of our campaign playbook and highlight the successes.

Social media was my main outlet for spreading the word and the party embraced my blogs, even when I ventured far afield. No one, not a fellow candidate or a single person in authority, ever hinted that there was a line I couldn't cross. I felt free to express my opinions. And that's a rare treat in politics.

Local media treated me extremely well. I never found myself excluded or belittled…though the local paper did misspell my name a few times!

(For those that don't know my region went through some controversy four years back and several ugly incidents convinced those in charge that equality was the best policy. It worked well in Nickel Belt and we should all fight to see this attitude spread throughout the North. Remember the squeaky wheel…)

I learned a lot—mostly what not to do—but can take solace in never failing the same way twice. I made many new friends and even a couple enemies. Impressed some people and disappointed others. My 373 votes didn't break any records but finishing 5th, behind only the "Big Four" and ahead of some impressive opponents, proved a satisfying result.

I can only hope that every other member of the Northern Ontario Party found the 2018 campaign as fulfilling.

But with the election over we're at to a crossroads. The question the NOP faces is: Now what?

It's awful tough to keep momentum moving for four years but with the PCs in charge we need to fight harder than ever. Doug Ford is a quinticessial Toronto politician. He will take from the North and give to the rich like some demented Robin Hood.

The NOP needs to be ready for his inevitable missteps. Press releases, letters to the editor, blogs, you name it and we should to use it. Our message going forward is simple: We are the North! No one else will fight like the NOP will fight.

So to all of you who worked so hard this campaign only to see our province elect an extremist Torontonian who's knowledge of our region is theoretical at best, I say "Take heart". We did well in 2018. Come 2022 we'll do better still. By then Northerners will be fed up with Ford and his conservative cronies.

Keep working. Keep believing. The North shall rise again…we will make sure of it!

Mat