Until you put your name up for public office, you can’t quite know just what this act of civic participation will demand of you, or how people will respond.

I want to commend the five other candidates here in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound who have conducted themselves and their local campaigns responsibly, with good humour and respect.

But now is the time for decisions.

It has been almost a full year since I put my name forward for the Liberal nomination in this riding. Campaigning through four seasons has only reinforced my conviction.

As I said at the time: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland have the best approach -- indeed the only responsible approach -- to the uncertain times in which we now live.

That is to say: An approach that is constructive, principled, consistent and tough.

In a nutshell, that is also how I’ve tackled my own campaign.

I have deep roots in this community, going back five generations on my mother’s side. I raised my kids here, co-founded two local businesses, and was for five years editor of the Owen Sound Sun Times.

I’ve also spent three decades as a reporter and editor in a career that’s taken me from Afghanistan, to Haiti, above the Arctic Circle and east to Japan and Taiwan.

Most recently, I served a two-year stint on the NAFTA file in the Prime Minister’s Office.

My work on the NAFTA negotiations, an existential economic threat that Team Canada faced down with calm, grit and resolve, inspired me to offer my skills, work ethic and experience to the people of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound as your representative in Ottawa.

The time has come for you to assess the options and to support the local candidate with a public record of good judgment, competence, kindness, and hard work in and for our community.

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, with a population of 106,000 spread over 175 kilometres from Dundalk to Tobermory, is too easily overlooked when federal resources are being allocated. We must have a powerful voice at the table to ensure local priorities are backstopped by federal dollars.

By contrast, Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives are proposing unspecified cuts totalling more than $50 billion. And he says his very first act as Prime Minister would be to scrap Canada’s national price on carbon pollution, which is the most critical part of the first real climate plan this country has ever had.

Unfortunately, Alex Ruff endorses Scheer’s deeply irresponsible, short-sighted path.

The Liberal climate plan is still in its early stages. But it has earned a solid B for ambition from climate economists and an A for feasibility. It’s a real plan, it’s in place now, and we know we can build on it if re-elected.

You will wake up on the morning of Oct. 22 to either a Liberal government, dedicated to facing the climate crisis head-on and reducing our emissions in steady increments, to net zero by 2050, or a Conservative government that will, as its first act, rip up the only serious climate plan this country has ever had.

I am asking you to vote for me, not out of a strategic calculation, but because you believe I am the strongest local candidate, with the strongest, most forward-looking program for our community.

I think I have made that case in this election campaign. I hope you agree. I would be honoured to earn your vote.

Respectfully,
Michael Den Tandt