On the same date, August 3rd, one new candidate threw his hat in the ring for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in our Lanark- Frontenac- Kingston riding and one withdrew. Ron Higgins, the current mayor of North Frontenac announced his withdrawal in a short Twitter post, saying, “I have withdrawn from the LFK ONPC candidate nomination race. I have reassessed my life priorities and I no longer have the commitment or desire required to run as an MPP for our riding. To those who supported me to date I thank you.”
On his family farm in Montague, John Jordan announced in front of a very supportive crowd that he was seeking the opportunity to run in next year’s provincial election under the PC banner. He filed his paperwork back in May. While John has spent his career life away from the political arena, his family name is well known in Lanark County and beyond. His late father Leo, served as Reeve of Montague Township before earning a seat at Queen’s Park as the area’s MPP in 1990 as a Progressive Conservative, where he represented his constituents until 1999.
John’s early career saw him working in administration for two area school boards. For the last 20 years he has been in a leadership role in community health care. He helped guide the amalgamation of the North Lanark CHC, Lanark Community Programs and the Whitewater Bromley CHC by forming ConnectWell Community Health, where he currently serves as CEO.
He told Hometown News that he believes his experience in fostering collaborative and cooperative processes in evaluating and redesigning health care delivery will be invaluable at Queen’s Park. He noted that a lot of new faces, including front-line specialists are now around the planning table as the province rolls out their replacement of Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) with Ontario Health Teams. He’s been a regular at these sessions and feels very positive at the ability for all partners to work together towards the common goals of seamless service availability and accessibility. He had high praise for our own Leeds Grenville and Lanark Health Unit in their tireless work in helping to control the spread of COVID-19. He gave them an excellent score for their efforts and successes in keeping everyone healthy.
The nomination meeting is set for August 28th and local voting by PC members will take place in a drive-through format at the Perth Civitan Hall from 10 am to 2 pm. Organizers expect the results will be known by late afternoon. Currently the only other name on the ticket will be Lanark Highlands Councilor Bill King. Hometown News will bring you the party’s voting results as soon as they’re available.
Article by Brian Turner
