Cathy Dobson/The Independent

There was a period around 2020 when Marilyn Gladu was so disillusioned that she considered retiring from politics.

At the time, she’d been Sarnia-Lambton’s MP for five years and was badly stung by a failed attempt to become leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). When Erin O’Toole won that race, Gladu says she did not “do well” under his leadership.

“He back benched me and he silenced me,” she said during a recent interview at her home in Plympton-Wyoming where she has lived since 2022.

Federal boundary lines have been redrawn for this election and the new riding of Sarnia-Lambton- Bkejwanong includes 20,000 more people. So, despite being Sarnia-Lambton’s MP for 10 years, Gladu says she is introducing herself to as many as possible by canvassing door-to-door this campaign.

At the end of her day, she agreed to a one-on-one with The Independent and talked about her renewed commitment to political life and her aspirations under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership.

Being disqualified by the party to run for the leadership race in 2020, then coming home to isolation during the pandemic was a low point, she said. “I came back to my house by myself for weeks and I didn’t know what to do. I felt that the party hadn’t supported me.

“I thought, should I quit? Should I go ahead?  I continued to work hard and do the job, a very different job because everything was on Zoom. So that was a very difficult period of time,” said Gladu.

But everything changed when she met Paul Rampone, a retired electrical engineering technologist newly moved to Sarnia.

According to Gladu, it was love at first sight when they both attended a David Wilcox concert at Sarnia’s Imperial Centre in 2022. Seven months later they surprised family and friends by marrying at Gladu’s 60th birthday party.

“He saw everything with fresh eyes…and it reignited my enthusiasm and I was enjoying it again,” she said.   

That same year, Poilievre became the new CPC leader, encouraging Gladu even more after she had backed his leadership bid and drafted a new “Freedom” platform for the party.

“He wanted a plan to make Canada the free-est nation on earth, so I drafted it from all of the input we received and that’s the freedom platform you are hearing come out of his mouth now.

“So that made me feel great,” she said.

Poilievre also appointed Gladu as Ontario co-chair of his leadership campaign and made her the opposition’s critic on civil liberties. 

In opposition since she was elected in 2015, Gladu has also served as critic for health, critic for science, and as chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

If the Conservatives win the election on April 28, Gladu said she is hopeful she’ll be regarded as cabinet material.  She believes her background as a chemical engineer working in the private sector (Dow, Suncor and WorleyParsons) for 30 years while raising two daughters, and travelling for business all over the world, makes her a good candidate. 

“I certainly would love to be a cabinet minister under Pierre Poilievre’s government,” she said. “I think as someone who is one of his key bilingual women, has worked globally in over 30 countries, the only female engineer in the House of Commons…I know a lot about business, I know a lot about cutting waste and finding efficiencies…and I know about change in organizations.“

I’ve managed hundreds of people and those are skill sets that not everybody in the party has, so I hope Pierre would consider me.”

She listed industry, international trade, infrastructure, Treasury Board, and health as portfolios she’d like to lead. 

In the last three election campaigns in Sarnia-Lambton, which she handily won, major issues included jobs, the future of energy and the high cost of living.  Those remain top concerns, but this time local residents also want to talk about tariffs and protecting Canadian sovereignty, said Gladu.

“I think after 10 years of the Liberal government…I’m getting calls all the time from people who can’t afford to live, seniors who helped build this country are losing their homes, young people have lost hope of having a home, single moms can’t feed their children, there are record line-ups at food banks, the homeless issue…all of these things were bad to start with and the Trump tariffs only made things worse.”

In 2016, Gladu was recognized by Maclean’s as “a loyal Conservative who consistently works across party lines.”  The magazine voted her the most collegial MP, a distinction she often brings up in interviews.  Her ability to find common ground between opposing sides appears to be her strategy when talking about US/Canadian relations. 

“I think that we should recognize the US has been our friend and ally for decades, and there are things that Canadians and Americans both want,” she said, listing more military resources, a solution to the fentanyl epidemic, a new approach to security around immigration, and more development of the energy sector.

The election of one man for four years south of the border shouldn’t permanently divide the two nations, said Gladu.

With the right government, Canada can still expand its energy sector and put many more Sarnians to work. That kind of growth would fund the social systems Canada needs, and provide inexpensive energy to the US, said Gladu. 

“I think there are things we can do to increase our prosperity that will increase US prosperity…and restore the balance in the relationship.”

GLADU AT A GLANCE

Age: 62

Profession: Chemical engineer

Education: Queen’s University Class of ‘84

Hometown: St. Catharines

Arrived in Sarnia: 1985 and worked in the private sector for 30 years. Notably, was chair of the Canadian Society of Chemical Engineers locally and national director of science and industrial policy.

Entry into politics: Joined advisory board for MPP Bob Bailey and was later president of the local Conservative federal association during MP Pat Davidson’s tenure. When Davidson retired, Gladu ran for Sarnia-Lambton MP and won in 2015 at age 52.

Family: Husband Paul Rampone. Daughters, Gillian, 34, and Katie, 32, raised in Petrolia.