Education Matters Online
Feature

Volume 1, Issue 2: June 16, 2003

Bryan Bakker - Elgin-Middlesex-London

From his work in farming and construction, to representing food workers, Bryan Bakker has earned a reputation as someone who cares and gets things done.

Bryan Bakker is a second generation Dutch farmer, and a life-long resident of the area. He has worked in tobacco, tomatoes, and horses. After graduating from high school, he worked as a labourer, and then at Loblaws where he became a United Food and Commercial Worker (UFCW) member. He is now a shop steward, and was elected as a representative of the UFCW's London Division Council.

Bryan is an active supporter of Amnesty International.

Bryan Bakker and the New Democrats have been clear and consistent in supporting publicpower - keeping vital services like education, health care, hydro and the protection of our air and water in public hands.

Source: Bryan Bakker's website

Rebecca Coulter - London North Centre

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to introduce myself as the NDP candidate in London-North-Centre. As you probably know, I have been a strong advocate for teachers and public education in the media and elsewhere. As early as 1995, I began to speak out against compulsory re-certification and I have consistently supported teachers and parents in their on-going struggles with the Harris-Eves government. Now I want to go to Queen’s Park to defend public education and protect our profession.

The coming provincial election is a crucial one. The NDP campaign, publicpower: Practical Solutions for Ontario, emphasizes the importance of our essential public services like schools, colleges and universities, health care, hydro, and the delivery of safe drinking water. Our certified balanced budget platform sets out a vision for a fair and just Ontario. We want an Ontario where vital services remain in public hands and are provided on an affordable and reliable basis to everyone, not privatized to profit the few.

To support public education, the NDP will

As a professor and associate dean in the Faculty of Education at Western, I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with many of you. I know that you are angry about many of the changes that have been forced on you, that everyday you experience the frustrations of under-funding, that the constant vilification of teachers by the Tories has taken its toll on your morale. But the coming provincial election provides you with a chance to make more than a change, to vote not only against the Conservatives but definitively for the NDP’s publicpower platform to ensure real and meaningful support for teachers and public education.

As a colleague who shares your commitment to education, I would welcome your help during the election campaign. If you live in London-North-Centre, I hope you will vote for me. I promise to be the strong and informed voice public education deserves at Queen’s Park and I will work indefatigably to ensure that all students in the province have equitable access to the excellent education they deserve and you can provide.

Source: Rebecca Coulter

Patti Dalton - London West

Patti is originally from Ottawa, Ontario and was raised in a lively family environment with four siblings and parents who were teachers and strongly committed to education. Both reading and athleticism were key features of this household; both parents, Kay and Steve, enjoyed swimming, tennis, baseball, ice skating/hockey and coached many different teams in schools and in the community. Patti engaged in competitive swimming, participated in various sports, studied ballet, jazz and modern dance, and competed in gymnastics with the Earl of March Secondary School team, participating in the provincial championship finals two years in a row. She obtained an English Honours Bachelor Degree at the University of Ottawa, graduating Magna Cum Laude, in 1988. Upon acceptance into the Education program at the University of Western Ontario, Patti and her daughter, Melissa, moved to London and she subsequently began teaching for the then London Board in 1989.

She was introduced to activism from the very first year of teaching through her experiences with and subsequent chairing of the OSSTF Status of Women Committee and had the privilege of serving for three years as Provincial Councillor during the era of the Days of Action and the 1997 province-wide protest. In 1996, Patti became an OSSTF delegate to the London and Labour Council, and has subsequently chaired the Labour Council political action committee, became the Council's delegate to the NDP Provincial Council and currently serves on the executive board of Labour Council. She is deeply committed to both union activism and the incorporation of social justice issues into curriculum and classroom practice. Patti has enjoyed her career immensely, with an innate passion for teaching and education, has choreographed for many school shows at Clarke Road Secondary School, has been a key organizer for the exciting Social Justice Now conference which this past year offered forty different workshops to over 600 secondary school students, and was honoured to receive the Associate Teacher Award from the UWO Faculty of Education in 2001. She is currently undertaking research and thesis work about restructuring in education in Ontario and coalition activism to complete a Master's Degree in Education.

Patti was nominated as the NDP London West candidate last fall and is continually supported and energized by the dedication and ongoing work of the London West riding executive. She is excited about the upcoming provincial election and the comprehensive and compassionate NDP publicpower platform, as well as the gifted leadership of party leader, Howard Hampton. Patti is particularly delighted to be running alongside two incredibly talented, strong educators and respected friends, Rebecca Coulter, NDP London North and Irene Mathyssen, NDP London Fanshawe. The NDP platform on education includes such essential features as the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Education Equality Task Force and restoring $2 billion to our schools to ensure that every students' needs are met, no matter what their ability, background or location in the province, abolishing the expensive Conservative testing bureaucracy with teacher constructed, locally based diagnostic testing, and enacting a Charter of Rights for Education, which would ensure that all children have equal access to fully funded and properly maintained schools, as well as the expertise of the full range of educational workers.

Patti and riding members will definitely be out and about this summer on doorsteps and at community events, engaging people in their concerns and the NDP publicpower message. If you would like to join us (we also plan to have some fun!) please contact John McCullagh or Gina Barber.

Everyone is most welcome to come to the London West annual Strawberry Social(ist) at Gina and Ted Barber’s lovely home, on Sunday June 22 from 2-5:00pm.

Source: Patti Dalton

Joyce Joliffe - Lambton-Kent-Middlesex

From her work as a worker advocate, to her experiences as a community and human rights activist, Joyce Jolliffe has earned a reputation as someone who cares and gets things done.

She is an employee of Streamline Copper and Brass in Strathroy, and an active member of her Steelworkers local. A graduate of the Canadian Labour College, and Fanshawe College, she has served on the Human Rights and Women's Committee of her union.

She is active in the United Way and fundraises for women's shelters.

She and her husband Ken have five children and are proud grandparents.

Joyce Jolliffe and the New Democrats have been clear and consistent in supporting publicpower - keeping vital services like education, health care, hydro and the protection of our air and water in public hands.

Source: NDP website

Irene Mathyssen - London Fanshawe

Irene Mathyssen is an English Teacher at Banting Secondary School in London. A deeply committed community activist, Irene was elected in 1990 as MPP in the former Middlesex riding. While in government, she served as assistant to the Chief Government Whip, as Parliamentary Assistant to two Ministers of the Environment and as Associate Minister of Culture, Tourism and Recreation. After returning to teaching in 1995, she worked as president of the London-Fanshawe NDP Riding Association and on the Provincial Executive of the NDP. In 1997 she was the NDP candidate for London-Fanshawe in the federal election. She is a member of the Ontario Health Coalition, is a delegate to the London and District Labour Council, and serves on the District 11 OSSTF Political Action Committee.

Irene Mathyssen is a long-time champion of the rights, concerns and well-being of the people of London-Fanshawe. As an MPP from 1990-95, she worked tirelessly to establish affordable housing in the area, a commitment she continued during the Harris years in fighting for a local tenant advocacy group and for supportive housing. She worked in government to establish not-for-profit day-care, and as a private citizen pursued advocacy work for the coalition for better child-care in London-Fanshawe.

A caring and committed teacher, Irene organized and supported many student clubs and activities designed to educate and motivate students about multicultural, anti-racism and equity issues. She fought city hall over the privatization of London Hydro, presented to the Rozanski Commission on Education, organized resistance against Tory changes to the Tenant Protection Act and promoted the work of the Coalition of Canadian Immigrants.

Irene is firmly committed to the NDP publicpower platform. The proud mother of a daughter, Lindsay, Irene is a former MPP, a dedicated teacher and community activist, and a woman whose roots in London-Fanshawe go right back to her own childhood growing up in the riding. She knows what supporting publicpower - keeping vital services like education, health care, hydro and protection of our air and water in public hands - means to residents of London-Fanshawe and Ontario.

Source: Irene Mathyssen

Shawn Rouse - Oxford

From his 18 years as a health care provider, to his work as a community activist, Shawn Rouse has earned a reputation as someone who cares and gets things done.

He currently works as a Dialysis Technician at Woodstock General Hospital and is active in his local union. He is also a delegate, trustee and past Vice President of the Oxford Regional Labour Council.

A former Scout and Royal Canadian Army Cadet, he won the Mayor’s Trophy and trained with the Canadian Forces in Europe in 1985. He became a Senior Cadet while earning the rank of Master Warrant Officer and Company Sergeant-Major. At Centennial College in Toronto, he studied Fluid Power Mechanical Engineering Technology and participated as a Centennial College Strategic Planning Stakeholder.

He was elected Campus Vice President, Executive Vice President and External Affairs Advisor; and was awarded the Centennial College Student Association Silver Award in 1991 and the Bronze Award of Excellence in 1992.

Shawn has volunteered with Operation Sharing, the Woodstock Christmas Place, the Big Bike Ride for Heart and Stroke Research, the Kidney Foundation, the Woodstock General Hospital Dragon Boat Team, and the Canada Summer Games held in 2001. He was a mentor in the Big Brothers program, an Executive Board Member of Oxford Housing, and one of the founding members of the Social Housing Advisory Committee for Oxford County Council.

He is a founding member of the Oxford Health Coalition, and sits as a member of the Woodstock General Hospital Foundation Fundraising Cabinet, Co-Chairing the Hospital Family Campaign.

Shawn lives in Woodstock.

Shawn Rouse and the New Democrats have been clear and consistent in supporting publicpower - keeping vital services like education, health care, hydro and the protection of our air and water in public hands.

Source: NDP website

Jack Verhulst - Perth-Middlesex

From his work as a farmer to local political activism, long-time Perth County resident Jack Verhulst has been there for our community.

For thirty-five years he drove transport trucks and for ten years he farmed.

During that time he was active in the Farmer's Union. Currently Jack and his wife run a hobby farm outside St. Mary's where they raise bees and sell plants. Jack Verhulst is a member of St Mary's Presbyterian Church and is active with the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

He is married to Tina and has three children.

Jack Verhulst and the New Democrats have been clear and consistent in supporting publicpower - keeping vital services like education, health care, hydro and the protection of our air and water in public hands.

Source: NDP website

District 11 PAC - NDP Page

Contact information, membership information, riding maps and profiles can be found here. There are also links to the NDP party platforms, each candidate's campaign website, and the Ontario NDP Public Power website.

Let us not take thought for our separate interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)

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