Paint it blue

Peter Chirico, the Conservative Party candidate for the Nipissing-Timiskaming riding, addresses supporters this afternoon at the official opening of his Oak Street headquarters. Photo by Phil Novak, BayToday.ca.

Peter Chirico sees a red riding and he wants to paint it blue.

Chirico, the Conservative Party candidate for the Nipissing-Timiskaming riding, officially opened his campaign headquarters on Oak Street Thursday, vowing to become only the fourth Tory MP this area has ever seen.

“We’re in for a tough fight and with your assistance we will win, and I am determined to paint this riding blue for everyone, folks,” Chirico told a room full of supporters.

Haven't delivered
Still beaming following a visit from Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper earlier in the day, Chirico said people in the riding are craving change.

“They want a change back to the old traditional values of trust and accountability, something that we haven’t seen for 12 years and I think the people of Canada are ready for that change,” Chirico told local reporters.

Constituents have said they also want to see policies that are promised, to actually be delivered, Chirico pointed out, saying the Liberal governments of the last 12 years have failed to do so.

“Let’s face it for 12 years, the Red book, they talked about the GST, talked about getting tough on crime talked about all these things and they haven’t delivered,” Chirico said.

Get tough
But that’s changed in the last two months, he added coming out with “all these new policies” that are actually Conservative Party policies.

“So I guess we’re flattered that the Liberals want to be Conservatives, but that is what people in this riding have been telling me loud and clear,” Chirico said, “that they do want change and they do want a return to integrity trust and accountability.”

Chirico hammered the Liberals for what he said was their inaction on the softwood lumber issue, after the United States had hammered Canada with illegal duties and tariffs.

“Up until July of this year nothing was done, now all of a sudden it seems to be popular because they know they’re going into an election and they’re starting to get tough,” Chirico said.

Loan guarantees
Despite $5 billion in illegally collected tariffs and duties, Chirico said, the Canadian government did “nothing” during that period.

“Then they came out with a small aid package of about 18 per cent of the overall monies that were owed,” Chirico said, “while the Conservatives have come out and said they would provide loan guarantees to those companies to help them during that time.”

Partisan-type
Chirico reiterated his party would not scrap FedNor, despite what the federal government was saying.

“I’ve heard comments from my Liberal friend who stated the people of this riding should be concerned about FedNor because of our policies,” Chirico said.

“Well I’m not sure what part of ‘yes’ he doesn’t understand, because Mr. Harper stood in front of me and in front of constituents of this riding and said he believes in FedNor.”

"What the Conservatives don’t believe in though," Chirico said, "is that FedNor appears to be a 'partisan-type' fund."

“We believe in fair distribution of those funds across our entire North, and that’s what it should be, and quite frankly I don’t believe that’s the way it is right now.”

Sell ourselves
Chirico said he believes Harper had made his second visit to North Bay in two weeks because the party leader believes Nipissing-Timiskaming is winnable for the Conservatives.

“I think we have a good chance at it and I’m looking forward, quite frankly, to painting it blue,” Chirico said.

Not that there won’t be some hurdles along the way.

“This is a Liberal stronghold so there is a mind set to change, but I do believe that people are ready for that change and that’s what we have. We have to sell ourselves,” Chirico said.

“We have to tell them that this is not a scary party.”

Go with that
"The Conservative Party," Chirico said, "has been 'demonized' by the media, particularly in the last federal election."

“But you know what? Mr Harper is coming out very strong on policy. He’s a man who says what he thinks and means what he says,” Chirico said.

“And so our policies are strong, our policies are ready to go and I think the Canadian people, and especially the taxpayers and constituents of this riding will go with that.”

Come true
One of the Conservative policies is cutting the GST by one per cent within the first year of them being voted in, and cutting it an additional one per cent after that.

Chirico said that’s a promise that will be kept, unlike the Liberals’ pledge to scrap the GST.

“They haven’t done anything on the GST, in fact they vilified that tax for many years, and now with that tax they collect so much money,” Chirico said.

“Now they’re vowing to make a tax cut, and people don’t believe that. But our promise to cut the GST will come true.”