Ed Crewson’s next step – former Mayor seeks Federal Liberal Nomination

January 28, 2015 · 0 Comments

This Saturday, January 31st, Shelburne’s former Mayor, Ed Crewson will officially launch his campaign for nomination as the Federal Liberal candidate for the riding of Dufferin-Caledon. The 3 p.m. announcement will take place at DS Handling, 595 Riddell Road in Orangeville; the actual voting by Liberal party members will take place at a yet to be specified date and location. Should he win this nomination, Ed Crewson will run in the upcoming 2015 Federal election against long time incumbent Progressive Conservative MP David Tilson.
Director of Communications for the campaign, George denHaan writes, “We are pleased to announce Ed has been greenlit by the Liberal Party of Canada as an official nominee to challenge for the Liberal candidacy in Dufferin-Caledon. We are confident Ed will not only win the contested contest to become the Liberal Candidate, but go on to be elected the next Member of Parliament for Dufferin-Caledon.”
Mr. Crewson told the Free Press he had been asked by the Ontario Liberal Party and the Liberal Party of Canada on many occasions in the past to seek the nomination:
“I have hitherto now declined because there were always unresolved issues at the Town of Shelburne or the County of Dufferin that I felt duty bound to address and so I continued to serve the community on municipal council. As I have said before, when I sat in my office preparing my brochure for re-election as Mayor of Shelburne, this past September I realized I had accomplished everything I had set out to do, and so I decided not to seek re-election as mayor. When the members of the Candidate Search Committee for the Dufferin-Caledon Liberal Riding Association approached me I eventually acquiesced to seek the nomination.”
Crewson holds an Honours Degree in Business Administration from Brock University, with nearly every elective a course in political science. He says he is running federally, rather than provincially, because “the Harper Government needs to be stopped before the institutions and programs that I hold dear, that Canadians hold dear, are irreparably harmed.” He shares Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s concern for “the decline of the middle class, the growing inequity of the distribution of income and wealth and the deliberate and unrelenting attack on the social safety net by the Harper Government.”
As Chair of the Community Services Committee of Dufferin County Council, Ed Crewson said he had to deal with “the retreat of the Harper Government from programs such as social housing.” Mr. Crewson does not support the Harper view that government is an “unnecessary tax burden,” but advocates that government “has been, and can be again, the solution to many of the problems we face as ordinary citizens.” He is “particularly interested in agricultural policy and environmental policy” and is “consulting with people from these sectors in Dufferin-Caledon” as he prepares for the nomination process.
Crewson’s first priority must be to win the Liberal candidate nomination. His campaign team has set up meet and greets to introduce him to members throughout Dufferin-Caledon in the coming weeks. Concentration will be on selling memberships in the Liberal Party, so that when the Dufferin-Caledon Liberal Riding Association holds the nomination meeting he will have more members vote for him than incumbent Liberal candidate Bill Prout. Prout failed to impress voters at the public debates in the 2011 Federal election and finished in last position behind all major parties at the polls, including Greens, and the NDP’s who did not even show up for the debates.
However, Bill Prout’s nomination papers were approved by the Liberal Party some time ago, giving him a greater opportunity to sell memberships, whereas Crewson’s nomination papers were only approved last week. Still, Crewson hopes members will recognize him as the better candidate, “because I have 26 years of proven leadership in municipal government, I am passionate about the role of government in building a better community and country and I will work hard to be a vigorous and vocal advocate for the citizens of Dufferin-Caledon.”
Ed Crewson’s wife, Wendy expressed her support for him, in words that undoubtedly echo the sentiments of those who know his worth as a politician: “I fully support Ed in his quest to become the Federal Liberal candidate in Dufferin Caledon. The citizens of Dufferin Caledon deserve better representation and a better voice in the House of Commons. Ed will listen and be a strong voice for our riding.”
Follow Ed Crewson’s bid for candidacy on Facebook at www.facebook.com/edcrewson and Twitter at ed4dufcal. Or on his website at www.edcrewson.ca. Those interested can register as Liberal Party Members on line at www.liberal.ca or contact the Crewsons.

By Marni Walsh