Photo/MANDI HARGRAVE LYNDA MCDOUGALL WAS DECLARED the NDP candidate for Dufferin-Caledon riding Tuesday evening during a nomination meeting held at the Alder Street Recreation Centre in Orangeville. With her is NDP leader Howard Hampton. Life-long area resident Lynda McDougall has been selected as the New Democratic Party candidate for Dufferin-Caledon riding in the October 10 provincial election.

She was nominated by member Sandy Forester who worked on Ms. McDougall's campaign during the 2005 by-election in the old riding of Dufferin-Peel- Wellington-Grey, when she placed third among eight candidates, with 3,881 votes compared with the 15,610 given Progressive Conservative leader John Tory and 4,625 accorded Liberal Bob Duncanson.

Ms. Forester said Ms. McDougall did very well in the by-election, having doubled the NDP vote in the riding received in the general election of October 2003.

Member Mary Ann Hutchings said she doesn't think there is a person who is more organized, energetic, enthusiastic or more into the issues than Ms. McDougall.

Leader Howard Hampton said Ms. McDougall and the NDP surprised a lot of people on election day when she fell just a few hundred votes behind Mr. Duncanson and predicted they'll do the same during this election when people recognize her as the candidate with the most passion and integrity.

"Part of it is because she's from this community, she understands this community, she understands what it likes to be a farmer, to struggle, to work really hard day in day out and at the end of the month still have a hard time making ends meat," he said.

As well, he said, she understands what's it like as a parent to be told school funding would be fixed, when it hasn't been, and students need to do more and more of their fundraising.

"Most of those parents are looking for someone to raise these issues and they're looking for someone they can trust and they're looking for someone they know has the integrity and in this constituency people already know that person is Lynda. People know it and I hear it when I'm on the streets in this community," Mr. Hampton said.

He said the upcoming election will be about all the hard-working people in Ontario who are looking for someone they can trust. That person is not Premier Dalton McGuinty, he said, as people are not happy that the premier gave himself a $40,000 increase while the minimum wage remains too low.

"That's why the kind of integrity, the kind of dedication and kind of passion Lynda brings is so important and is going to be so important in this election," he said.

Ms. McDougall was born on a farm in Alton and attended elementary school in Caledon and Belfountain and secondary school in Orangeville. She's taught in Orangeville, Grand Valley and Shelburne and is currently the vice-president of the Upper Grand Elementary Teachers Federation.

She said her job is to ensure teachers have the information, education and services they need, which is the kind of politician she would like to be. As well, she would be a politician who was present in the community and listened rather than just talk at people.

Ms. McDougall said it wouldn't be a big step for her to go from this position to the MPP for Dufferin-Caledon, as this would be a place where she can use her skills in a broader way. She said she is committed to families here as she cares what will happen to future generations and she wants to make sure there are good schools and health care for the riding.

The candidate said she is proud to represent this riding and promised to keep the needs of the community and the needs of working families in the community at the forefront of her discussions from now until October.

"It's time for us to start thinking Orange in Orangeville," she said during the meeting held at the Alder Street Recreation Centre.

She said being NDP means community, "It means a place where we care about each and it means a place where we make a commitment to each other, about being responsible for each other," she said. "It means using public dollars to create communities where working families can expect fair and predictable access to services and support."

Ms. McDougall said her mother who is 82-years-old lives in town and there are many other seniors like her in communities all around the riding that deserve the dignity of access to long-term health care services and support, which are driven by care and commitment, not by profit.

As well she said working fam- ilies in Orangeville expect the government to provide public funding for quality health care, sustainable child care and funding for schools from kindergarten to Grade 12.

She said they deserve affordable housing, hydro, fair wages and healthy working conditions.

Ms. McDougall would like to see the minimum wage increased to $10 now so students can start planning for their future with fair tuition costs to get the jobs they want and then contribute to the communities they choose to live in.

"I don't think this is an impossible dream to think about," she said. "It's about thinking about communities like we think about families. We step in, we help out, we work hard, we share responsibilities, we care about creating healthy lives for one another and having healthy environments around us. We should be voting for politicians who have the healthiest respect for these families and these communities. We need politicians to understand that investing in people is pretty much the healthiest thing we can do."

With the boundaries of the riding have changed, as it no longer includes parts of Wellington and Grey counties, she said it's important for people to understand there's a change and the riding now includes a mix of rural and urban.

She said there are now fewer farmers in the riding, but that doesn't mean their issues aren't still important.

Since spring has arrived, Ms. McDougall said it's time for growth and change. She said she will listen to people's concerns and while she can't fix everything, she said she also can't fix anything if she doesn't know what constituents want.

"As a teacher I've spent my life in the service of others and I just want to keep offering that to people," she said.