NDP

Oakville NDP Riding Association Annual General Meeting

Monday, June 28, 2010. 7:00 p.m.

Oakville Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Rd, Committee Room 2

Agenda

Welcome and introductions

President's address

Guest speaker: Bill Shields of Safetynet Halton

Federal candidate James Ede

Minutes of 2009 AGM

Treasurer's report

Election of new executive

About our Guest Speaker: Bill Shields is the founder of Safetynet Children and Youth Charities, which operates a food and clothing bank, free tutoring and music lessons, and performs general community outreach for low income children, youth and families in Oakville. He is also a local organizer for Make Poverty History, and has worked in social services for over two decades.

Have you considered becoming more involved with the Oakville NDP? The following executive positions are up for election:

President

Vice President

Secretary

Treasurer

Membership Secretary

Communications Director

Women’s Rep

Youth Rep

Provincial Council Delegates

Those who have not renewed their membership for 2010 can do so at the meeting. We hope to see you there!

Congratulations to James Ede on winning a tightly-contested race to become our candidate for the next federal election. Our appreciation and thanks is extended to runner up Michelle Bilek for making this an interesting and exciting nomination race.

I want to thank you for placing your trust in me as your federal NDP candidate. I am honoured that you would choose me as your representative in our next federal election. I promise to work my hardest to represent you and the values of our party in Oakville, and to repay the trust you have placed in me.

I want to extend my thanks to my fellow nominee, Michelle Bilek. Michelle conducted a fantastic campaign for the nomination. She is a good friend, and it was genuinely hard to run against her. It would have been easier to run against her if I did not believe she would make a great candidate. The closeness of the vote says a lot about the quality of my opponent. Having won against such a dedicated and hard-working progressive activist, I will have to make sure I run a spectacular campaign to justify my winning the nomination. While I am personally excited to run as candidate for the NDP, this excitement is lessened by the fact that my victory means that candidates from all four major parties in Oakville will be men, thus undermining the representation of women in politics.

I would also like to repeat the appeal I made at the nomination meeting, for people consider volunteering with the party. Volunteering is the best way to help the NDP in Oakville, and it provides a deeper perspective on politics to have as many people involved as possible. I have no desire to use my position as candidate for any personal glory; for me, this is not a ‘one-person show’.

I have always relied upon the advice and assistance of my colleagues to broaden out my own perspective. If democratic politics is about representation of the people, then I believe the place to start would be to have as much input from my fellow NDP members as possible. I invite you to contact me with your thoughts on federal politics or suggestions for running a strong campaign.