They came to say hello, to get some face time and to say thank you.
Guelph MPP Liz Sandals and MP Lloyd Longfield held their annual New Year’s Levee Sunday at the Italian Canadian Club, with roughly 200 people stopping by and lining up to greet and meet briefly with their political representatives.
“It’s just a way to say thank you and it’s just nice and I like to get a feel about what’s going on,” said Roberta Longo, who brought her mom and “long time Liberal” Maria Orso along.
She also took a minute to stress to the politicians the importance of the OPP, where her daughter is an officer and the importance of looking after seniors like her mom.
“It’s always good to let them know that seniors have needs too,” she said.
Politicians at all levels annually hold levees in the new year as a way of connecting with the people they represent.
Levees have their routes in French aristocracy, and the idea of having them in the New Year (traditionally New Year’s Day) became a tradition in Canada through early settlers.
This year’s levee was also a chance for Sandals to say thank you and goodbye. This was her final Levee after 11 years representing Guelph as she is retiring before the next election in June.
“I realized this will be my last one. I’m going to miss you all,” Sandals said.
“I don’t want to take Liz’s thunder, but I’m going to miss this,” Longfield said.
“It’s just been such a pleasure to work with Liz …. She has been a mentor to me for years and years and its going to be hard having a levee next year without Liz here.”
Melku Gebrekristos came by to say hello and also brought along some friends who just arrived in Guelph from Eritrea two weeks ago.
“I was invited and I decided to invite my friends. I thought this was a good opportunity to know and meet the people who represent them,” Gebrekristos said.
Fern Cooper, a regular at the levees, said it was a chance to ask specific questions and also “to give a big thank you.”
“I wanted to ask about the $100 million donation to CAMH and if that affected Guelph’s CMHA,” said Cooper.
“I also wanted to tell Liz and Lloyd how thankful I am about nutritional workshops and wandering chef workshops in the Community Health Centre where we cook up wonderful meals.”
Both politicians took a moment to address the gathering and hit on some of the key political points coming up in 2018, including legalized pot, free prescriptions for people under 25, affordable housing and the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“It’s going to be a challenge. Every year is a challenge,” said Longfield.
