Kathryn McGarry and her family moved to the riding of Cambridge in 1988. Kathryn's career as a Critical Care nurse has spanned over 30 years, starting with some of the most vulnerable in our society at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and continuing to the present at Grand River and Cambridge Memorial hospitals.
For over two decades, Kathryn has been active in cultural heritage, the environment, municipal planning, and social services in the area. She was a founding member of Hospice Waterloo Region; past president of the Heritage Cambridge Board of Directors; and currently chairs the Heritage Master Plan Implementation Committee. She is a member of the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, and was a contributing member of the Community Leaders' Task Force on Municipal Restructuring. Kathryn is also the recipient of the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award (2009), and the Bernice Adams Special Trustee award (2011).
As a front line health care worker, the mother of school aged children, and an experienced and dedicated community activist for over 20 years, Kathryn brings a unique first-hand and compassionate understanding of how political decisions can impact the everyday lives of the people of Cambridge and North Dumfries.
Why should Ontarians vote for you?
I have devoted my entire nursing career to caring for the most vulnerable, and have been an active participant for over 20 years to make our community a better place. I remember well the day in 2003, when the power went out across Ontario and as a nurse I was ventilating two patients in the ER and we knew we had 30 seconds before the generator kicked in and only 2 hours of standby power. I knew then that we simply cannot have our most vulnerable at risk by government decisions to cut back critical services like the Progressive Conservatives had done and jeopardize both our patients and our provinces' well- being. I decided then and there that I would seek political office to be part of the solution. I know that mine will be a strong, caring, dedicated and experienced voice for the riding of Cambridge at Queen's Park.
If you are elected as an MPP by your constituents, what will your top two priorities be?
The two overarching priorities in the riding of Cambridge and North Dumfries are the expansion of Cambridge Memorial Hospital and retaining and expanding our local economy. The expansion of CMH has been a ‘promise-in-progress' for 15 years and I am happy to say it is now a ‘work-in-progress'. I have worked hard to ensure the officials in the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Health got together to iron out the negotiations with the new hospital administration at CMH to ensure the project was on a firm footing for development. I was delighted when the Minister of Health confirmed the expansion this July and further confirmed, that the funding to deliver the expansion was ‘baked into the budget' and work starts September. The local economy and jobs are a clear priority and thus, the work of the Liberal government to invest $70 million in Toyota that brought $506 million reinvestment in the Cambridge and Woodstock assembly plants to increase productivity is a significant support to jobs. Investments by the Liberal government in Dana Canada will produce an additional 53 jobs, the investment in Centra will produce another 108 new jobs in Cambridge. We are getting people back to work.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing Ontarians?
Ontario is turning the corner after a tough recession and Ontario Liberals are determined to keep the province moving forward in health care, education, environment and the economy. In the US and Europe, economies are on the brink. The way I see it, there are two choices - recreate a low-skills, low-wage economy or - we develop a high-skills, high-wage economy where we produce goods that the competition can't make. Ontario is building that kind of economy,-a green and sustainable economy. A strong economy lets us invest in the schools – from full-day kindergarten to postsecondary education –giving our children the education they need to compete for those high-skills jobs. It lets us invest in hospitals – hire doctors and nurses. It gives us the means to build a great quality of life: protect our green space, clean our air and water, care for one another, and provide for our families and seniors.
