Nipissing-Timiskaming Conservatives have nominated Garry Keller as its candidate heading into the next federal election.
Keller beat out the two other contestants, Steve Trahan and Jordy Carr.
“We’re not releasing the final count. We do have over 900 members in our Association and there has been very good participation here, and we had a clear winner today,” noted Gordan Rennie, President of the Nipissing-Timiskaming Conservative Association.
The nomination meeting was required after Conservative candidate Cassidy Villeneuve pulled herself out of the race earlier this month.
Keller brings to the table nearly 30 years of political experience.
“I’m a government relations consultant. I worked 20 years on Parliament Hill for (former Prime Minister) Stephen Harper, Rona Ambrose (as Chief of Staff in Opposition.) and John Baird (as Chief of Staff at Foreign Affairs).”
The father of two, along with his wife, own a house in both Powassan and Ottawa.
If elected, he is prepared to split his time between the two locations.
“A member of parliament has to be in Ottawa about 30 weeks a year. I will have to be there for that, and when the House of Commons isn’t sitting, the plan is to be here for those times,” explained Keller.
During those times he will meet with constituents.
“And doing all the constituency events. It is a huge riding, and I really want to criss-cross the riding as much as possible.”
The riding expanded in 2024.
“The riding now goes from Trout Creek to north of Englehart and from Mattawa to Nipissing First Nation. It is a big riding, it is three hours north to south, and all the candidates from all the parties are going to have a lot of work ahead of them these next few weeks,” Rennie stated.
Keller’s approach will be to knock on doors and speak directly to eligible voters to let them know who he is, what he stands for, and to share that he is a “proud member of Pierre Poilievre’s team.“
“I think the situation that we’re in; we need to meet the moment. The moment that we’re facing now with all the challenges from down south and the impact on trade and tariffs. I think now in Canada there is an opportunity and a willingness more than there was even weeks ago, to get things out of the ground, to build, to dig, to really get this country moving, to cut the red tape. And, I think Nipissing-Timiskaming is really well placed based on the resource extraction and the skills and the talents of the people of this riding to be able to benefit from that.”
Keller plans to meet with the Riding Association as soon as possible.
“I want to hear from them what their plans are to hit the ground running. I understand signs will need to be printed, we need to raise some dollars here, we need to check our volunteers list, and there is a number of folks that supported my campaign that said ‘How can I help? How can I door knock?.” I’ve drawn on my network across the country of people who say they want to donate to the Nipissing-Timiskaming Riding Association so that this Riding Association is really well financed to take the fight to the Liberals in this upcoming election.”
The Association will get Keller registered as a candidate for the general election, then it is all hands on deck.
“We’ve got a campaign plan. We’ve got volunteers, we’ve been raising funds and now we’ll integrate that with Garry’s team. He had a lot of people out helping him with the nomination over the last couple of weeks to put him over the top,” said Rennie.
“We’re ready to go, we have a plan, we’ve been working on it. We had a change of candidate, but our team was there and we’re very motivated. We feel we need a change in Ottawa and we feel Pierre Poilievre is popular, he’s been very popular in this riding. He’s been here twice; he’s been in Kirkland Lake. A lot of people in the north part of the riding went to see him. So, we don’t see that changing”
During his acceptance speech, the newly elected candidate said he was honoured to have won the nomination, and thanked everyone who supported him.
“We’re going to need everybody on the Riding Association and who is a Conservative to hit the ground running because it is going to be a race right to the end,” Keller told those in the audience who had gathered to hear the nomination results.
“It is time to take the fight to the Liberals right here in Nipissing-Timiskaming. Their tired record, it is time for them to go, and it is time to elect a representative for you that is going to get it done. The people of this riding are depending on us, all of us to bring change, so together let’s bring it home. Let’s get it done.”
Rennie acknowledges that Keller will need to introduce himself to the voters.
“The Liberal candidate (Pauline Rochefort) is well known around North Bay, not well known in other parts of the riding. So, I think it is fairly even and we’re going to have to earn every vote.”
Keller is prepared for a battle.
“Pierre Poilievre I know has told his team, told his caucus members a year ago this race is going to get tighter and we need to work hard and be at the doors face to face with our people to make that sales job. There is no doubt this coming election is going to be a battle, and I’m really looking forward to getting to the doors.”