The Citizen, 2018-08-30, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2018.
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could make a difference,” Higgins
said. “Lisa Thompson has the power
to make that change and, hopefully,
she sees that there are youth out
there that want to learn about
agriculture.”
Having started
her post-
secondary
education last
year at the
University of
Guelph in the
Nutritional and
Nutraceutical
Sciences
program, she
said she realized
just how under-
represented
agriculture is in
the world
outside of
Huron County.
“It should be
more prevalent
in the media and
in schools so
people have an
interest in it,”
she said.
She said she
hopes, through
school clubs and
events around
Huron County,
to keep
agriculture in the
forefront of
people’s minds.
She also plans to spend as much
time as she can at home to help
promote the local plowing match,
the International Plowing Match
(IPM) and agriculture in general.
Higgins’ name may be well-
known thanks to her continual
involvement in local 4-H Clubs.
As a leader or press reporter, she
has been involved in many different
4-H programs, which she said
helped significantly with her bid for
the ambassador crown.
“Local 4-H programs have a big
age range, so I’m used to talking to
people of all different involvement
levels,” she said. “It really helps to
make you aware of your public
speaking ability and what you can
work on.”
As for big events in her future, she
said she hopes to get to the Huron
Pioneer Thresher and Hobby
Association reunion at the Blyth
Campground and attend the
upcoming IPM in Chatham-Kent to
support Kara Hendriks in her bid for
Ontario Queen of the Furrow.
Higgins recently completed her
first year in the Nutritional and
Nutraceutical Sciences program,
saying she focused on mostly
general science for that inaugural
study period. Her second year will
focus on biochemistry and
microbiology before getting more
focused on the program’s major
focus which will allow her to pursue
a future in the pharmaceutical,
naturopathy or food development
industries.
Maranda Klaver and Lauren Bos
received co-runner up awards for the
Queen of the Furrow competition
while Klaver also received the
Plowmen’s Award for her plowing
ability.
Allan Thompson of Goderich is
running again in hopes of winning
the Huron-Bruce Liberal nomination
ahead of next year’s federal election.
Thompson made the
announcement on the steps of his
family’s new Market Street home in
Goderich. The event served both as a
stage for the announcement and as a
housewarming party for the
Thompsons, who just recently
became Goderich residents.
Introduced by his real estate agent
and friend Laura Herman,
Thompson spoke to over 150
friends, family members and
supporters at his home ahead of a
dinner and party.
Thompson was chosen as Huron-
Bruce’s Liberal candidate in the
2015 election under Justin Trudeau,
who would be elected Prime
Minister in that election. In Huron-
Bruce, he garnered nearly 40 per
cent of the vote throughout the
riding, but came up just short of
incumbent Conservative Ben Lobb,
who earned just under 45 per cent of
the total riding vote.
After officially announcing that he
planned to seek the Liberal
nomination in 2019, Thompson told
his supporters that he felt it would be
a tough road ahead.
“We will be fighting an election
campaign... this will be a hard-
fought, tough election – no
question. Part of that is because we
know we will be facing an opponent
who will use the politics of fear and
division and identity to try and turn
people against each other,”
Thompson said. He added, however,
that he and the Liberal government
aim to rise above and stay positive.
Thompson said that he felt there
was room for improvement in
Ottawa when it came to Huron-
Bruce representation, adding that
rural values need to be applied in the
nation’s capital.
“I firmly believe that Huron-Bruce
needs and deserves a stronger voice
in Ottawa; an MP who is ambitious,
proactive and effective and ready to
stand up for the people who live in
rural communities,” he said.
Thompson said that he is
confident that Trudeau and the
Liberals will form the government
once again in 2019 and that the
people of Huron-Bruce deserve a
representative from that positive
government.
He added that while Huron-Bruce
and other rural ridings across
Canada may have a reputation for
being Conservative, he said that’s an
unfair assumption.
“There are people from all
political stripes across this riding,
don’t let anyone tell you that one
political party has some kind of
monopoly on rural Canada,” he said.
“There are people from all across the
political spectrum in this riding, but
what we all share is that we all live
in a small town, on a farm, on a
country road or in a village – every
single person in this riding, no
matter their political persuasion, has
that in common.”
Thompson said that when he
decided to run again, he looked to
his brother Gord for advice, saying
he is the “original politician” in the
Thompson family as the former
mayor of Kincardine.
Thompson read Gord’s response
to his question aloud at last week’s
event, “we have always been a
caring society, nowhere is this truer
than in the coffee shops and around
the kitchen tables of Huron-Bruce.
Rural Ontario has been a caring
society since its early settlement. In
fact, we would not have survived
without people helping people get
through the tough times, the
epidemics, the droughts, the vicious
winter storms and the tough
economic cycles. Helping, sharing
and caring values are the values of
the people of this riding.”
He said he felt as though his
father, Ron, who passed away in
recent years, would be proud of his
son and the Trudeau government,
despite being a life-long
conservative.
“I am very confident than dad
would be proud of an election
campaign built on a simple promise
of hope and hard work because he
was the hardest-working person that
I met in my life.”
For more information, visit
www.allanthompson.ca.
Higgins keeps it in the family
Thompson welcomes 150 to campaign launch
Back for 2019
On the steps of his Goderich home last week, Allan Thompson announced that he would again
seek the Huron-Bruce Liberal nomination ahead of the 2019 federal election. Thompson lost
narrowly to Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb in the 2015 election, despite a wave of Liberal victories
across the country, including the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Thompson
welcomed 150 people to his home for his family’s housewarming party, which doubled as a
platform for his campaign announcement. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Big winner
Loretta Higgins was crowned Huron
County Queen of the Furrow Friday night,
besting two other competitors for the title.
(Quinn Talbot photo)
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By Shawn Loughlin
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