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Less than a month after registering our constituency association in the riding of Welland-Thorold, the prospect of another byelection became a reality. Although, as of this writing, it has not yet been officially announced, voters in the riding of Welland Thorold are expected to be taking to the polls before the year is out, due to the resignation of New Democrat MPP Mel Swart, who has held a firm grasp on the riding for the past thirteen years.
This time round, Freedom Party will be represented by Barry Fitzgerald, a 35-year-old maintenance electrician with Atlas Steels in Welland. As with the London North byelection, one of the major issues concerning voters in the upcoming Welland-Thorold byelection will be the issue of Sunday shopping.
"As Freedom Party's representative in the upcoming byelection, I'm proud to be the only candidate supporting individual freedom of choice in Sunday shopping, an issue that exemplifies the difference between Freedom Party's philosophy and the others," says Fitzgerald. "Whereas we believe that the individual should be the one to have the right to make choices affecting his or her life, all my political opponents believe that some level of government should be making those choices for us."
Freedom Party's campaigning in the Welland-Thorold area began as early as April 1988, when our first full-page newspaper ad advocating freedom of choice in Sunday shopping appeared in the Guardian Express (watch for coverage, next issue of Freedom Flyer). During the summer, volunteers from the London area visited the riding, helping to deliver Freedom Party's introductory "Maybe Politics..." brochure to the doors of voters who, in all probability, have never heard of Freedom Party before.
Fitzgerald, who plans to appear before the government's Standing Committee on Administration of Justice on August 29 to speak out in favour of freedom of choice in Sunday shopping, has been busy making contacts and introducing Freedom Party to residents in his riding, since he became the party's unofficial representative in the area late last year. It also appears that he will become involved with fighting an existing Business Improvement Area [BIA] in Welland, where discontent may already have sown the seeds for yet another successful defeat of these coercive "business associations".
Fitzgerald's election literature has already been prepared and will be a hybrid of the literature used during Election '87 and London North's byelection '88. As always, the literature will solicit a response from residents, with the expectation that a future membership base can be built in the area from those responses.
Freedom Party members and supporters are encouraged to offer their support; anyone wishing to do so now may contact Barry at (416) 735-3538.
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last updated on April 28, 2002
