The new Liberal candidate for Huron-bruce, James Rice, met with local Southampton and
Port Elgin constituents on August 30th (2021).
Rice met at a ‘meet-n-greet’ at the home of Luz-Maria and Charles Wilson in Southampton where he met with several supporters.
Rice was honest about his life saying that he was a ‘crown ward’ who grew up in the child social assistance system. “Myself and my three siblings were pulled out of poverty and had a chance at success thanks to our government system.”
At a very young age, Rice also believed in equality as a grade 12 student at Kincardine’s Secondary School. In Bruce County, rural Ontario, a Fall Fair is a big event and the crowning of the Fair Queen or Ambassador is momentous. However, when James Rice came along at the Tiverton Fall Fair and ran for ‘Ambassador’, it was a precedent-setting occasion … and he won, representing Tiverton as their 2010-2011 Ambassador!
“I knew that growing up in ‘the system’, I wanted to be involved in Justice and helping others.” After leaving ‘care’, Rice went on to the University of Guelph where he attained a degree in Criminal Justice and Policy and then went on to the University of Windsor where he received a Law Degree and now works as Assistant Crown Attorney in criminal justice in the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Rice said that all his life experience has given him a lens that is open to an equal society for all. “The Liberal Party understands that it has a role to play in peoples’ lives and I understand that. That’s what happened to me … and it worked for me.”
According to Rice, the Liberal party has the best plan in moving forward. “The COVID pandemic has changed almost everything about our lives. We know as Liberals that when the government invests in Canadians we do our best when we help each other. The Child Benefit program has pulled 435,000 children out of poverty and I was one of those children.”
“We have so much to be proud of in Canada in continuously building this country, but there is much to do and we are facing a stark choice on what our country looks like emerging from this pandemic,” said Rice.
Rice went on to say that his opponents, the Conservatives are trying to take “the country backward by tearing back the $10 a day childcare program, bringing a two-tier health care system and going backward to the Harper green-house emissions. We have to stand up to the forces that will take us backward.”
He went to explain his personal three main priorities:
- Affordable Housing: “There has been a 40 percent increase in housing costs that is also affecting families who need affordable rental housing.
- Affordable Child Care: “Eight out of 10 provinces have signed on. This is an awesome program especially for women who are disproportionately affected.
- Hi-speed Bandwidth: ‘Vital to learning for young people.”
Meeting with constituents, Rice said, “I will not be silent and sit on the sidelines … I never have.”
Rice is supported by his wife, Katie. “I was raised on a farm near Hanover and I am so proud of James. He is one of the kindest men but he is so affective in court. The one thing that is very special is that he knows both sides of an issue because of his upbringing. He knows what it’s like to be on both sides of the fence and he believes in doing the right thing for a family. Sometimes it’s not best to send someone to incarceration as it won’t benefit the children and James knows that. He is simply … amazing when it comes to standing up for people and families.”
The couple has recently purchased a home in Port Elgin. “James has lived all throughout Bruce County,” says wife Katie. “I have been an ‘in-land’ girl born and raised but I am so excited at being able to live on the Lake Huron shoreline with our daughter Rachel.”
