Election 2025 Candidate Michelle Foxton

Jeff Green | Apr 16, 2025

By Jemma Dooreleyers

Michelle Foxton is the Liberal MP candidate for Lanark-Frontenac.

She has lived in Sydenham and Hartington her entire life. Her first elected position she held was as the youngest member to be part of the Township Council. Foxton was the first woman to serve on the Fort Henry Guard, and she is currently a practicing lawyer in the City of Kingston, where she focuses on wills and estates and property law.

She first ran for MP in 2021. Frontenac News caught up with her the morning after the all-candidates meeting that occurred in Verona on April 9th.

How are you feeling after last night?

Well, it was a lively one. Once we got rolling into the questions, it was fantastic and there were really good questions from our community that represented many areas from tourism to agriculture. That part of it was great. I enjoyed that.

As you heard last night, the rural riding feels as though rural issues get ignored and don’t reflect the needs of the community. Do you agree with this feeling? As MP what would you do to ensure the voice of the community is heard?

The general consensus is that policies get put into place that are more of a one-size-fits-all solution all and they tend to be centered around the urban areas because that is where there are large populations, but rural needs are unique, and there needs to be a rural lens applied when policies are developed. So my hope is that being representative with a voice at the table. I don’t want to be someone who just warms a bench but actually makes inroads to connecting with other MPs and committees. I hope that getting involved in the structure of parliament and how it works will bring that lens to the table. We need someone who appreciates that. We need someone who has worked in the agricultural communities that we have. Having seen my husband’s family and my husband over the years and having gone out and spoken with those communities, whether it’s the beef farmers and the OFA to hear their concerns. I am still learning, as we saw last night. That type of thing is important to hear and if we don’t hold these town hall events, you don’t come into contact with that. My plan is to be the type of representative that is involved. I will be holding two townhall meetings a year, one in the North and one in the South. I will be at municipal meetings and foodbanks. The goal is to be where I can be to see what policy initiatives could help these areas. To reassure them I can tell that even though there appears to be division and vitriol, it’s amazing what we can do when the need arises. The threats to Canada has re ally helped to sharpen our focus and the people in this riding as well as across the country are sending a mes sage that they much prefer unity and working together and they much prefer leaders where they bring their com munities together and don’t divide them.

One of the feelings I gathered from last night’s candidate meeting was that people are frustrated with how systems like health care, which are under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, are being managed and while that is under the provincial power, is there anything you could do as a Federal MP?

The division of powers is important, it’s rooted in the constitution and there are responsibilities that I believe the province is not handling well. The healthcare system, the education system to name a few. The education of our kids is one of the most important investments we can make. With the federal school lunch program, that is how the federal government helped out with education because no one can learn on an empty stomach. In talking with numerous healthcare providers across this riding, I think the way we can go about it is the Canada Health Act, which strives for service across Canada. There are transfer payments that the federal government makes to the provinces and what I’m hearing loud and clear is that those transfer payments need to be tied to more results. I’m hopeful that this Prime Minister, who has shown a very skilled approach to communicating with premiers and bringing them to the table. Leadership is very important and we can keep banging our head against a brick wall and attacking each other over the issues or we can come together and assess the tools we have in our tool box. That is what Mark Carney offers us.

There was someone last night who asked about women’s rights to choose and how the federal government will protect those rights and your opposition assured her that those rights, because they are entrenched in the constitution, that they can’t be threatened. I’m wondering how that answer made you feel as a woman in politics.

My fear is rooted in what I understand is happening across the globe. There are movements that are there and they can’t be ignored. They are very strong whether they're rooted in religion or rooted in other areas that are pushing for a male dominated society. I want to be careful in just chalking it up to religion because I am a religious person and I don’t believe the religion I practice has that view of women at all. This is different and we have to acknowledge that that side does exist. In the States, the laws are going towards that far-right movement. This stems as well for the rights of the LGBTQ community. Whether it’s antisemitism, whether it’s racism, whether it’s sexism, they all come together in a confluence of what’s right and what’s wrong and that to me is concerning. We have to be mindful of it and we have to watch what is happening around the world. When Reid said that it was a division of powers in the States, I think he missed the point. It’s no different than the Canada Health Act when we apply it across Canada equally. Women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, human rights should not be applied differently based on what state/province you live in. They should be universal. Last night I felt maybe he doesn’t understand to grow up with barriers that shouldn’t be there. I think he was speak ing from a position of privilege. As long as there is breath in me, I will fight for all rights. We need to bring women, Indigenous people, people from the LGBTQ community to the table and create policies based on their perspective, it’s no different from bringing the rural perspective to parliament. We can make better policies for it.

Do you think Mark Carney is aware of the notions coming from the States and do you think he can pro tect people from that hateful policy making?

It’s clear to me that the policies he’s focused on, while most of his work has been for the financial sector, that were created to help all people of Canada. When he worked through the 2008 financial crisis, it was clear that the policies he was making was to benefit all Canadians. His work at the United Nations and his ideas on Climate Change are very much of the same. Those are rooted in basic fundamentals and rights that we all have the right to live in a society that is healthy and sustainable and  resilient. That gives me hope that there is where his values will be. I see the person as a whole and I see what he is offering and it is all pointing to the protection of those rights for all.

How does your work as a lawyer inform your work as a candidate?

Well, my work as a lawyer is rooted it in justice, it’s rooted in the protection of human rights, it’s rooted in fairness. So much of what I have seen in my 25 years of practicing law has shown me the areas we need to work on as a society. The support for the mental health system that we need, the support for our law enforcement that is needed, I have seen that as a Crown attorney. Many things I have seen within the court system really inform me of where we need to focus our energy to move forward as a country to address the deficiencies.

How does being a Sydenham local your whole life inform your work as an MP?

I understand the rural struggle and the unique struggles to our area. I appreciate the kilometres that people in this part of the country put on their vehicles to access services in the city, I appreciate that some people may not have access to transportation. I’ve visited South Frontenac Community Services, I have visited the food banks there. I understand that there has been more demand than ever. More than anything, travelling around the riding, talking to people within the community, has not only solidified what I already know to be true about living rurally, it has added to my understanding. There’s a lot more challenges that I’ve been able to understand. I can speak from my experience with my own parents when they were in hospice and palliative care. I have a deep understanding of these experiences and being from the grassroots and part of this community, it’s a great honour to bring these experiences while I’m running for the community I hope to represent.