Meet NDP Candidate Aylea Teel:
Aylea Teel has always been passionate about standing up for her beliefs and for what’s right. She was born and raised in the Kawartha Lakes and is proud to call the beautiful waterways home.
She currently works in the service industry, where she experiences first-hand the challenges facing many Canadians. But her job also allows her to get to know the faces who make up her community of Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes.
With aspirations to become an educator, Aylea has worked as a private tutor, helping students achieve their educational goals, and spent last summer working with BGC Kawarthas as a Summer Camp Leader. She is currently finishing off the last year of her bachelor’s degree at Nipissing University. It is Aylea’s dream to work in the Kawartha Lakes and to give back to the community that helped her grow into the person she is today.
Aylea believes that Canada needs more young people in government. She is ready to put her all into advocating for policies that help everyday Canadians get ahead–not policies that help CEOs get richer.
Aylea is ready to fight for affordable homes, better public health care and shorter wait times, and true climate action that protects the beautiful Canadian landscapes we call home. (copied from official NDP website as no response received from candidate.)
Meet Liberal Candidate Nell Thomas:
Born in Toronto in 1966, the youngest of four, I was three when my family moved to a forty-acre bush property with a pond north of Huntsville. We were raised “off the land” by choice; my parents were not consumers. My mother was a teacher, my father a radio/TV narrator, politician, environmentalist.
I completed grade six in a two-room school house in Kearney, grade eight in Burk’s Falls, high school in South River, an honours Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics (in French)at University of Ottawa, a Masters of Clinical Science in Communication Disorders at Western University, a Medical Degree at Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Sudbury, and training in rural Family Medicine from McMaster University (Mount Forest).
I worked as a clinical Speech-Language Pathologist in Muskoka for fifteen years (schoolboard, hospital, health unit, private practice), and formed “MPS Rehab” in 1997 when the government outsourced homecare services. This was a therapist-led company to ensure work stayed with the local health care providers. We operated out of my basement for three successful contracts.
In 2003 I moved to a farm outside Guelph to join my future husband, Robert Carter. With his support, I started medical school at 39, finished training at 45, and worked two years as a family physician in Erin, Ontario before Bob and I moved to Minden, where I have happily been part of the Haliburton Highlands Family Health Team since 2013.
Some of my recent community involvement and interests:
-Creator heathealth.ca billboard website project 2024 providing public health information for health risks on a warming planet
-Faculty of Norther Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM)
-Member of NOSM Advisory Committee on Climate Change-Participant in Columbia University Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education creating climate resources for medical schools and healthcare training
-Planned projects with ULinks (Trent University)for sustainable food systems, policies for surplus food reclamation and green waste systems
-Author of “COVID Corner” and “Climate Corner” series in Haliburton Highlander (2020-23)
-Creator of FOOD ALLIANCE, sustainable community food security system(presented at international Future Adaptations in Montreal in 2023); collaborate extensively locally
-Creator of “ROADMAP”, climate fiction social impact entertainment inspiring human behavior change to live in harmony with our planet(participant in Hollywood Climate Summit 2023)
-Invited speaker at PROBUS, SCAN, 350.Canada events
I joined the Liberal Party to vote for Mark Carney. Right now Canada is facing a very real threat from the United States. Mark Carney and the Liberal party are uniting and strengthening our country. My choice to run as the Liberal candidate in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes was made for me by the circumstances surrounding my country. The decision is not about me; it is about Canada, my country, your country, our country. CANADA STRONG!
Meet PC Candidate Jamie Schmale:
With a strong background in radio, journalism, and federal politics, Jamie has had the honour of representing Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock in Ottawa since 2015.
Prior to entering politics, Jamie attended Fenelon Falls High School and Loyalist College, graduating from the Radio Broadcasting program. Jamie started his career as News Anchor and later News Director for CHUM Media Kawarthas. Covering news, municipal politics, and sports for 91.9FM Radio CKLY in Lindsay, Jamie covered the horrific attacks of 9/11, the blackout of 2003, and the amalgamation of the 16 municipalities of Victoria County into what is now the single-tier City of Kawartha Lakes.
Raised in Bobcaygeon, he now calls Lindsay home. A professional, father, and volunteer, Jamie is actively involved in a number of local charities and not-for-profits.
He is the go-to guy when it comes to being the Master of Ceremonies for fundraising campaigns and committees, including: the Victoria County United Way, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Victoria-Haliburton, Easter Seals, Community Care, Kawartha Lakes Fire Chief’s Annual Ball, Kawartha Lakes Awareness Fair, the Multiple Sclerosis Walk, Lindsay Canada Day, COKL Awareness Fair, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, and the Lindsay Exhibition parade committee. As MP Barry Devolin’s Campaign Manager in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011, Jamie helped Barry win his riding by a larger plurality following each election. As Barry’s Executive Assistant, a position that he enjoyed for eleven years, Jamie oversaw relations, media management, communications, and outreach. He also managed large, ongoing local issues such as the Trent Severn Waterway. Jamie could often be seen attending events across the riding representing the Government of Canada when Barry was not available.
In 2014, Jamie was nominated by the Conservative party to become the next Conservative candidate for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock (HKLB) riding. Since first being elected, he has served on various Parliamentary Committees such as the Procedure and House Affairs, Natural Resources and up until prorogation in August 2020, was the Vice Chair of the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee. In 2019, Jamie was asked to serve as the Shadow Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations under previous Leader Andrew Scheer. In 2020, the new leader for the Official Opposition, Erin O’Toole, asked Jamie to serve as his Shadow Minister for Families, Children and Social Development. As part of the Official Opposition’s plan to recover the economy post COVID-19,Jamie has be re-appointed to Shadow Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations and serves as Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.
Information retrieved from the official website of MP Jamie Schmale as the storm impact prevented information to be received before the print deadline