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Radan stands by unpopular premier to the end

June 5, 2018

EDITOR’S NOTE: These are the final profiles of candidates in our series

Mike Radan says he’s happy to stand up for the Liberal’s record in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
Radan became the governing party’s candidate well into the campaign. It’s a position he’s been in before. Radan was the Liberals unsuccessful candidate in the 2014 election.
He’s also helped out on a number of campaigns, including the last time a Liberal from Lambton-Kent-Middlesex joined the governing party. That was Maria VanBommel.
Radan, a partner in a paralegal firm who moved from Toronto to the Appin area 16 years ago, is well aware being a supporter of Kathleen Wynne is not a popular position.
“There seems to be a personal animosity with regard to the premier,” Radan tells The Independent during a telephone interview while on the campaign trail. “When I look at her track record, at what she’s done; I’m more than happy to stand up for it.”
Radan points out the Liberals pushed the federal government to improve the Canada Pension Plan by starting up a plan of its own.
And he says when the Liberals were first elected, there were all kinds of smog days in southern Ontario. Radan says the Liberals closed down the province’s coal burning power generators and that’s improved air quality for the people of the province.
“If people want me to apologize for clean air and kids without asthma I will,” he says, tongue in cheek.
“There have been very positive changes under the Liberal government,” Radan says.
Saturday, after our interview with Radan, the premier conceded she would not win this election. Instead she urged voters to send Liberal MPPs to Queen’s Park to hold the balance of power in a minority government.
Radan was also critical of the current representatives in the area – all of whom are Conservatives. “We have local MPPs who advocate for things locally but vote against them in Queen’s Park…” And Radan says they’ve made political hay over the issue of water pollution in North Kent.
Premier Wynne personally promised people whose water wells turned bad as the North Kent project was built that she would look into the matter. So far, the Liberals are the only group not calling for a health hazard investigation. Radan says it could have been handled better.
“Whatever the reason is whether it is the turbines or if it is some other issue, we should find out,” he says adding he will advocate for the issue if he’s elected Thursday.

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