Letter sent to the Peterborough/ Oshawa Candidates:
To: Michelle Ferrari, Emma-Lee Harrison, Heather Ray, and Jazmine Raine
To: Rhonda Kirkland, Isaac Ransom, Sara Labelle, and Katherine Matthewson
A big thanks to you all for running in the 2025 Federal Election in Peterborough.
The decision to run in an election takes courage, and you have our respect and admiration for stepping forward for our community.
By way of introduction, we are contacting you on behalf of OPSEU Local 365. Our union represents over 500 administrators, IT and academic staff, caretakers, maintenance workers and service providers who are proud of our shared workplace at Trent University.
We would like to give you, our local candidates, an opportunity to speak directly to our membership by completing a short questionnaire.
Please complete and return the questionnaire to opseu@trentu.ca by April 16, 2025.
Our plan is to circulate all candidates’ responses to our membership on April 17, 2025.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your views with our members to help them make informed decisions at the ballot box.
Take care,
OPSEU Local 365 Executive Committee
To All Members of OPSEU 365:
The 2025 federal election is underway.
Advance polling starts tomorrow and will run from April 18 to 21 from 9 AM – 9 PM. If you don’t vote early, Election Day is April 28.
Your Local 365 has compiled key information to help make it easier to know your candidates, know the parties, and understand how, where, and when to vote.
Who are my local candidates, and what are they saying?
We reached out to local candidates running for the Conservatives, Greens, Liberals, and NDP in Oshawa and Peterborough – and gave them one week to share their plans to:
a) support post-secondary education,
b) welcome international students, and,
c) address housing, affordability, and climate issues.
We also provided each candidate the chance to send a personal message to our membership of over 500 strong.
Here is what the respondents had to say:
| Peterborough | |
| Candidate, Party | Survey Response |
| Michelle Ferreri, Conservative | No response |
| Jazmine Raine, Green | Response |
| Emma Harrison, Liberal | Response |
| Heather Ray, NDP | Response |
| Oshawa | |
| Candidate, Party | Survey Response |
| Rhonda Kirkland, Conservative | Refused to participate |
| Katherine Matthewson, Green | No response |
| Isaac Ransom, Liberal | No response |
| Sara Labelle, NDP | Response |
What do the 4 main political parties stand for?
Not every party has released a full 2025 platform as yet, but you can visit each party’s website for policy announcements and platform information, below:
- Conservative Party of Canada: https://www.conservative.ca/
Leader, Pierre Poilievre - Green Party of Canada: https://www.greenparty.ca//
Co-Leaders, Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault - Liberal Party of Canada: https://liberal.ca/
Leader, Mark Carney
- New Democratic Party of Canada: https://www.ndp.ca/
Leader, Jagmeet Singh
The English language Leaders Debate: The English language leaders’ debate will take place tonight – April 17, 2025, at 7 PM ET. To view the debate, and get a better sense of where political Leader’s stand on the issues that matter to you, visit CBC.
Voting FAQs
- To vote, you must: a) be a Canadian citizen, b) be at least 18 years old on election day, and c) prove your identity and address
- A driver’s license with your current address will be the most common piece of ID used to vote.
- Type in your residential postal code to receive important information on when, where, and how to vote.
We hope this information is helpful as we all head to the ballot box in the coming days.
Happy Voting,
OPSEU Local 365 Executive and Action Committees