A Simple Reason Why Outremont Should Vote for Rachel Bendayan

 

The February 25 by-election in Outremont is an opportunity to elect someone who will finally address the issues that matter.  The riding needs a politician who is known to the community, and not one that appears only during elections and disappears once elected. The new democrates like the concervatives have a track record of auto-replies for citizens' emails that were never followed, as well as MPs that you can hardly reach. When a citizen gets a long awaited appointment, these parties' MPs have a tradition of passing it over to one of their office workers. That is unlike a tradition of accessibility established by the liberals from Anne McLellan whom I witnessed personally assisting citizens back in late 1990s in Edmonton, to Stéphane Dion who has been until very recently reputed to be the go-to MP  in Saint Laurent. His stories of streching the helping hand to his electorate are now part of the oral tradition in Saint Laurent one can safely say. 

 I am not going to cover Rachel Bendayan's academic, professional and political experience because these things have been covered enough by different media outlets. I am more interested in casting some light on her commitment to the continuum of the tradition of accessibility which is  key for our democracy. Her commitment to fight polarization and the politics of division. Her commitments to address the issue of affordable housing, assisting small business and family entrepreneurship.

In the 2015 elections, Bendayan listened to the citizens of Outrement  better than the winning NDP leader. The issues raised by contacted citizens from equality in citizenship rights, to reducing retirement age to 65 from 67, strenthening the country's unity and supporting human rights globally have all been translated into policies. It is now up to the citizens of Outremont to empower a candidate that personally cares about their concerns.