Perth-Wellington Ontario Party candidate Sandy MacGregor is campaigning on a platform that opposes government overreach and defends democratic and religious freedoms.
If he’s elected Perth-Wellington’s new MPP on Thursday, Sandy MacGregor says he will fight back against government overreach and defend the freedoms that underpin democracy.
A Mount Forest resident of nine years and a high school teacher for more than two decades, MacGregor is running in this week’s Ontario general election as the newly formed Ontario Party’s candidate in Perth-Wellington.
“I’ve been following Derek Sloan over the past few years and I really like how he approached things, and when I found out he had joined the Ontario Party, I read their charter and I read their platform,” said MacGregor, referring to his party leader and former federal representative for the Hastings-Lennox and Addington riding who was expelled from the Conservative caucus after he unknowingly accepted a donation from white nationalist Paul Fromm in January 2021.
Sloan rose to popularity following his expulsion by participating in — and speaking at — protests and demonstrations against government-imposed pandemic restrictions across Ontario last year.
“I really liked it and I agreed with it, and I thought I might want to get involved. … The number-one thing in the charter is the belief in the supremacy of God and we answer to God for what we do, what we believe, how we act, how we respond to things, and that was really kind of appealing to me as a Christian. It’s something that not too many people want to talk about these days and I felt strongly about that,” MacGregor said.
Having worked with teenagers in high school, as well as in detention centers and group homes before that, MacGregor believes the Ontario Party platform offers the best future for children and young people.
Like most candidates in this election, MacGregor says the top issue on the minds of local residents he’s met during his campaign is the rising cost of living.
“It’s just outrageous what people are paying for gas. I know that’s a federal issue, but Derek (Sloan) has addressed it saying he would like to at least try to do what we can to reduce taxes for people and make it easier for them to live.
“I’ve been visiting people in their homes and I’ve been seeing two and three people living in small apartments because they can’t afford to pay the rent and pay the grocery bills, and that was an issue before things started to go crazy.”
MacGregor also wants to see reform in the province’s educational system. Under the current system, he says the standards for student achievement have been lowered since he started teaching and he wants to establish international standards focused around core subjects like math, science and literacy.
MacGregor is also opposed to teaching topics like critical race theory – the examination of how race, society and law intersect – and LGBTQ2+ and gender studies in schools.
“I’d like to take things out of the school that I see as political things and woke agendas. … I’m OK if people want to teach whatever they want to teach their kids in their homes, but I think that needs to get out of the schools and get back to teaching education, and that’s something I’m passionate about,” he said.
If he was elected MPP, he said he would put his small government beliefs into practice by taking a minimalist approach as Perth-Wellington’s provincial representative at Queen’s Park.
“We need to cut back on government. We have so many different offices and people in charge of so many different things in government. Derek (Sloan) has a way of doing that. Reducing size and state of government is something that’s obviously in our platform. … I don’t have all the plans there, but I’ve heard stories – true stories – where the government has buildings full of furniture because they have to spend their budget to get their budget returned next year.
“What a waste of money. Let’s stop this waste and stop spending people’s money.”
For more information about MacGregor and the Ontario Party’s platform, visit www.sandymacg-perthwellington.com.