Winnipeg, Manitoba
Teacher and musician once competed in Canada’s Got Talent
Analysis
Teodoro Alcuitas
Editor, Philippine Canadian news.Com (PCN.Com)
Public school teacher and musician Paul Ong is seeking to regain the Winnipeg Centre riding from the current New Democratic Party’s (NDP) Leah Gazan who took the seat from the Liberal’s in 2019.
The 32-year old Ong is a vice principal at École Garden Grove School in the Winnipeg School Division. He had teaching stints at Red Sucker Lake First Nation, located over 700 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg and Garden Grove Junior High in Winnipeg.
He immigrated to Canada in 2010 at the age of 21 with his parents and three siblings. Like most immigrants, his education credentials from De La Salle University in Manila was not recognized in Manitoba. He took accreditation courses to upgrade his degree and eventually earned his master’s degree in education for sustainable well-being from the University of Manitoba in 2019.
Ong said his experience working with marginalized youth as a resource teacher, and more recently as a school administrator, has taught him about the challenges children and their families face.
“Running for office would create an opportunity to serve his community from a different perspective,” Ong told Philippine Canadian News.Com in a Zoom interview.
“My experience teaching at an Indigenous school has taught me not only about the culture but also about issues like housing inequality,” he adds.
He plans to apply the things he’s learned throughout his teaching career to his platform in Winnipeg Centre.
“I’ve seen kids are coming to school hungry, some of their basic needs are not met,” Ong said.
He added that he’s seen firsthand the precarious conditions some of his students are living in while dropping off hampers or technology and books during the pandemic.
“We really need to work on improving on the housing conditions and making housing affordable because it’s a human right and it’s a basic need — for everybody to have a home where they can seek comfort and grow,” he said.
Seeing how some families in the West End struggle to find affordable child care, at times necessitating older children to stay home and care for younger siblings, Ong is pushing for $10 per day child care.
“That would not only provide quality and affordable child care, but that would boost employment in the area,” he said.
“We need to work to eliminate the hurt that has been caused in the past, and we need to act as a community to confront the systemic racism against Indigenous people, especially in the justice system and in health care,” he said.
Using his musical talents to contribute to his community, he has been fundraising for charities with his annual “ Concert for a Cause”.
Filipinos are game changer
Winnipeg Centre is a riding to watch, not only because it is the second poorest riding in the country next to Prime Minister Trudeau’s Papineau riding in Quebec, but also because it has one of the largest concentrations of Filipino-Canadian voters.
In the political minefield of Winnipeg politics, Filipinos have been a game changer dating back to the election of the first federal politician, the Liberal’s Dr. Rey Pagtakhan in 1988. Pagtakhan defeated an NDP giant then, David Orlikow who held the riding of Winnipeg North for over 40 years. Today, the riding has been redrawn and is currently held by another Liberal- Kevin Lamoureux since 2010. Lamoureux makes no bones about the support he gets from the Filipino community whom he cultivates assiduously.
Filipinos in Winnipeg have also elected kababayans beginning with the late MLA Conrad Santos in 1981, followed by Cris Aglugob, Flor Marcelino and Ted Marcelino, Jon Reyes and Malaya Marcelino.
Arguebably, Winnipeg is in the forefront of political involvement by Filipinos in Canada.
This fact could not be lost in Paul Ong’s bid to follow Dr. Rey Pagtakhan’s trail blazing feat more than 30 years ago.
Consistent polling throughout the riding shows a strong approval for how the federal government has handled the COVID-19 pandemic, reports say.
Ong is the fourth Filipino Liberal Party candidate running in this federal election.