Freedom party fields candidate in Welland
By BILL SAWCHUK
Tribune staff writer
WELLAND - A ballot cast for the Freedom Party is a vote for less government, Barry Fitzgerald, the party's candidate in the Welland-Thorold riding says.
"We believe in letting people make their own decisions," says Fitzgerald, one of 13 Freedom Party candidates running in the province. "We need a government that knows the value of the taxpayer's dollar. "
Fitzgerald, a 41-year-old electromechanical technician and native of Port Colborne who worked for 14 years at Atlas Steels, has run in three previous elections in Welland but never drawn more than two per cent support.
"We're not a very popular movement, but we have had a lot of influence," he says. "Our policies have been partly implemented in the past couple of years by the other parties.
"In this election, Mike Harris has stolen a great part of our platform. "
Key planks in the Freedom Party platform include the elimination of government grants and subsidies for special interest groups, multiculturalism and business; privatization of government owned business such as Ontario Hydro and the LCBO; and repeal of Bill 40 (labor legislation) and Bill 79 (employment equity).
With no budget and limited free time to campaign, Fitzgerald, who works in Toronto and says he lives in Etobicoke and Welland, admits he's at a severe disadvantage. "Our budget is zero, and that traditionally has been seen as a disadvantage, but that is starting to change. The defeat of the Charlottetown Accord is the first evidence that you can't necessarily buy an election with a big budget."
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last updated on April 30, 2002
