BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
A 23-year-old Chelmsford woman hopes to become the Conservative candidate for Nickel Belt in the next federal election.
Renee Germain, who recently earned her degree in political science and public administration from Laurentian University, is the only person who has stepped forward so far to become a candidate.
The riding association has not yet set up a nomination meeting, but expects to get authorization from the party’s head office soon.
“There’s this quote where Winston Churchill says, ‘If you’re not a Liberal when you’re under 35, you have no heart, but if you’re not a Conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain’,” she says.
“I’m probably a little bit ahead of my time. But the Conservatives have values I’ve grown up with.”
Germain is the Conservative riding association president in Nickel Belt.
“Now is a great time for me to run,” she says. “(Liberal Nickel Belt MP) Ray (Bonin) is going to be retiring. It’s a great opportunity for Conservatives, and it’s a great opportunity for anyone out there, even Liberal candidate hopefuls.”
The woman who ran for the Conservatives in Nickel Belt in the last election, Margaret Schwartzentruber, has not expressed interest in running again.
In the Sudbury riding, there are no potential candidates and no nomination meeting has been arranged as of yet. Kevin Serviss, who ran for the Conservatives in Sudbury in the last election, has announced he is not running again.
Germain, who works as a call centre representative at the city’s new 311 service, thinks she can appeal to the youth vote in the riding.
“I’m really going to try. We’re putting a lot of effort into getting people to get out and vote,” she says.
“It’s not as if they (young people) are not interested in government and policies, but there’s no one bringing them there. For such a long time, it’s been the old boys’ club.
“You have to have people who appeal to the population, and I think a young female in Nickel Belt will be just that.”
