Candace Shaw has been nominated as the NDP candidate for Peterborough-Kawartha in the fall federal election.
NDP members chose Shaw over David Tough and Mallory MacDonald at a nomination meeting on Wednesday night (June 26) at the Peterborough Public Library.
A Keene native, Shaw graduated from Trent University with a B.A. Honours in English Literature in 2005. The following year, she began working with the Peterborough Folk Festival where she was artistic director as well as executive director until 2013, when she moved to Toronto.
While in Toronto, she helped plan and manage cultural and music events for Harbourfront Centre, the Toronto Christmas Market, and Dreams Unlimited.
In 2014, Shaw founded Canadian Women Working in Music (now Secret Frequency), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to inclusion, diversity, and fair pay in the music industry. The organization issues a “Canadian Festival Report Card” to encourage gender parity at music festivals across Canada, a report that has received coverage in national media. In 2018, the report graded 113 festivals in every province and territory — including the Peterborough Music Festival (which got a B) and Peterborough Musicfest (which got a D).
The 42-year-old Shaw moved back to Peterborough in the spring of this year and, in June, declared her intention to run for the nomination as the federal Peterborough-Kawartha NDP candidate.
“As a lifelong culture worker, I am familiar with precarious work and the stresses of the ‘gig economy,’ and I am eager to fight for workers’ rights, equal pay and pay transparency, affordable childcare and a strong education system for families, and affordable housing,” Shaw wrote on her candidate website.
“I am an ardent advocate for safe, legal, barrier-free abortion. And I know that the path to economic stability is through sustainability, investing in our citizens, and facing the threats of climate change head-on.”
You can read more about Shaw at www.candaceshawptbo.com.
The other two nominees were 48-year-old David Tough, a scholar, historian, educator, author, writer, and musician (he wrote some of the songs for the upcoming Beau Dixon play at 4th Line Theatre), and 33-year-old Mallory MacDonald, a former personal support worker and a local actress and costume maker.
In the October 21st federal election, Shaw will be up against Liberal incumbent Maryam Monsef, Conservative candidate Mike Skinner, and Green Party candidate Brock Grills.
