Satinka Schilling - NDP candidate in Lanark Frontenac Kingston

Jeff Green | Sep 18, 2019

It certainly took a while, but the NDP now have a candidate in the Lanark Frontenac Kingston riding. Satinka Schilling, who was raised on a rural property near Perth in Tay Valley, and now lives in the Town of Perth, was acclaimed to the candidacy at a meeting on Saturday.

She registered with the federal NDP in August, but it took until last Thursday for the party’s vetting process to be completed.

“It was a long process, even before they got to the stage of vetting my social media, and they went all the way back to 2011.”

Given that Schilling will be turning 24 during the election campaign, that is going back to when she was very young, but she said that the way this campaign has started off, she fully understands the need for caution.

Now that her campaign is underway, she said that she is pleased with the team that has sprung to help her. John Fenik, the candidate from the 2014 election and Mayor of Perth, has come on as her campaign manager. Another former candidate (both provincially and federally) Ross Sutherland is handling her finances. A larger group of women and men from the Perth area are also helping her.

“There are a lot of diverse ages, genders, and sexual orientation among my campaign team, which will be helpful as the campaign unfolds,” she said.

One thing that she had to convince everyone in her campaign about, was her refusal to make use of corrugated plastic signs during the campaign.

“If people want to make signs out of wood or cardboard and put them up that is great, but I decided I will not use plastic signs at all, and I had to convince my team about that, but they are all on board now. I will make it up by using media, social media, print media and canvassing.

She said that her motivation for running comes from a sense that political discourse in Canada is focussed on an urban reality, and that the perspective of someone from a rural background, who comes from a low income family, is missing. She was drawn to the NDP because “the party represents inclusivity and the lower income side of the population. In Perth there are many seniors and I know a lot of older folks who are struggling to survive on a fixed income. I would like to bring a voice to that population as well.”

Satinka Schilling works as a baker at the Perth Pie Company and will be continuing to work full time during the campaign. Nonetheless she said she will attend all 7 of the candidates forums that have been organised during the campaign, including the first one, in Perth on September 19th at the Perth Lions Hall at 7pm. It is hosted by the Lanark Federation of Agriculture.

Among the other meetings is one in Sharbot Lake on September 30, organised by the Frontenac News. A meeting on October 9th at the Verona Lions Hall is hosted by Retired Teachers Federation of Eastern Ontario. (More on meetings on page 9).

Schilling is also a slam poet. She participated in the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and continues to be heavily involved in the Lanark County Live Poets Society, more in an organising role than a performing role.

“I was one of the few rural poets at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word,” she recalls, and of a few poets to perform alongside a parent when she performed with her mother Beth.

She said that she knows that her background is mainly in the Perth and Lanark County portion of the riding, but said she is committed to campaigning in all parts of the riding and that her emphasis on rural issues, agriculture and food security should be relevant in all parts of Lanark Frontenac Kingston.

(Editors note - a previous version of this article contained errors, including a claim that Satinka Schilling will be 2 on election day)