KINGS COUNTY ADVERTISER/REGISTER
He is currently the minister at New Minas United Church but, if the federal NDP candidate is successful in his bid to become Kings-Hants MP in the next election, he may some day be a minister of a different sort.
David Hewitt was declared the NDP candidate for the riding of Kings-Hants at a meeting of the Kings-Hants NDP Riding Association at the St. James Anglican Church hall in Kentville March 14.
Hants East MLA and Minister of Agriculture John MacDonell, who read Hewitt’s biography and made the nomination, said Hewitt is also the current president of the Kings North NDP Riding Association and served as co-campaign manager for MLA Jim Morton’s successful election campaign.
Hewitt said he knows there is a daunting, challenging task ahead.
“We have it all - until we look closer and deeper and realize that, well, we may have it all, but some of us don’t have very much at all and are losing ground,” he said. “We have it all until we begin to realize how already some of it has been lost. We have it all until we realize how vulnerable and threatened it all is.”
Hewitt said government is all about the wishes of the people and, sadly, we now find ourselves on the brink of disaster because of successive federal governments that have forgotten their reason for being.
“They have become more concerned with clinging to power, sucking up to big business and pacifying their core supporters,” he said. “I want to thank Stephen Harper for two very important things he has done for Canadians: he’s eliminated the Reform Party and he’s taken the word ‘progressive’ out of the name of the Conservative Party.”
“They have become more concerned with clinging to power, sucking up to big business and pacifying their core supporters." - Kings-Hants NDP candidate David Hewitt on past and current federal governments
Hewitt said he wishes the Liberals were as transparent and consistent. Their agenda is the same as the Conservatives. Their only issue is why they can’t beat the Conservatives at their own game.
Hewitt said Canadians know the system is broken and this is one reason voter turnout is so low. Electing either the Liberals or the Conservatives is like choosing between two sides of the same coin. The NDP government in Nova Scotia has shown it’s possible to right past wrongs and make good choices to benefit all people. However, cleaning up after the Conservatives is messy, long work.
He said he isn’t eager to force a federal election and would rather see the minority government work. However, Hewitt said it would be an honour to represent the people of Kings-Hants and was given a standing ovation at the conclusion of his acceptance speech.
Supporters former Kings-Hants NDP candidate Carol Harris said she is very excited to have Hewitt as their next candidate. Morton said they have to be ready to capitalize when the next federal election is called because we need more NDP MPs in Ottawa.
“I think this riding will be a better place for the work he has already done and the work he continues to do,” Morton said in regard to Hewitt.
