Kitchener-Waterloo NDP

Apr 27, 2007

Max Lombardi was elected as the federal NDP candidate for the Cambridge riding last night as about 100 people packed a banquet room at the Preston Auditorium.

Lombardi, a long-time Cambridge resident, defeated Fatima Pereira after delivering a passionate speech about the crisis facing the manufacturing sector in Cambridge and Southern Ontario. "If you listen closely you can almost hear the giant sucking sound of our good-paying jobs getting sucked out to China, to India and to South Korea -- where most workers do not enjoy a fair living wage," Lombardi said.

"The Gary Goodyear Conservatives refuse to do anything about lopsided trade arrangements, that allow cheap foreign-made goods to cascade into our markets while those countries slam the door to our manufactured goods."

"The Conservatives say they don't have enough money to invest in the manufacturing sector, yet they managed to find $8 billion for tax cuts to their corporate friends, " said Lombardi, whose own employer is at risk of shutting down all its Canadian manufacturing operations. Lombardi, who has worked as an information technology specialist at MTD Products since 1997, is a father of triplets. Last year, he ran unsuccessfully for trustee with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board. Lombardi said he will speak to bread-and-butter issues that working families care about, such as high gas prices; ATM fees and credit card interest rates.

The environment will also be a prominent issue as both Liberal and Conservative parties present a new-found interest in the issue, Lombardi said. "Stephane Dion, your green scarf can not cover up 13 years of inaction on the environment while you and your Liberal party were in power. When carbon emissions rose by 30 per cent, you were the Environment Minister. When air quality went up in smoke -- you were there," Lombardi said. "The other parties are just trying to jump on a green bandwagon, but the NDP was green before green was cool."

To contact Max by e-mail: maxlombardi@ndp.ca
by telephone/fax or voice mail: 519-620-2888
LEARN MORE: http://www.ndp.ca