Six questions with Lorna Jean Edmonds, Liberal candidate for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes
Editorial note: As Canadians head to the polls for the Monday, April 28 federal election, we want to be your one-stop home base for everything you need to know in Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands-and Rideau Lakes. As part of this coverage, we’ve created profiles for each candidate (pending candidate availability) in the riding. For these profiles, each candidate was asked the same list of questions, the responses to which we’ve compiled into an easy-to-read Q&A format. To view all of the profiles (published as response is collected) and additional election coverage, visit Kingstonist’s Federal Election 2025 page.
After running for the provincial election in February 2025, Lorna Jean (LJ) Edmonds has announced that she is running in the federal election as the Liberal Candidate for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands-and Rideau Lakes. Edmonds grew up in Ottawa and Pike Lake near Westport, but now lives in Hartington, Ontario. She holds a BA in science from Queen’s University, a Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Ottawa, and a PhD in Development Studies from University of East Anglia in the UK.
As a mother, grandmother, volunteer and community leader, Edmonds has diverse expertise with her academic and professional background in education, healthcare, and community sectors both locally and internationally. From 2013 to 2020, Edmonds served as the vice provost of Global Affairs and International Studies and a Professor at the College of Health Sciences at Ohio University. With an impressive list of degrees and professional accomplishments to bolster her, Edmonds believes she is exactly what this riding needs.
Why are you running for public office?
I’m very committed to making sure our rural interests and our unique position are at the table. But on top of that, I have a similar career background, though obviously not on the same scale, as Mark Carney. Being a university executive and a healthcare administrator, I have been involved in global negotiations, national negotiations, and also I worked in the United States for seven years between the transition of Obama, Trump and then Biden. The fact is we’re now seeing this threat as a sign of patriotism as a result of us saying ‘Canada needs to stand stronger and more independent.’ So we need new partners, both by reducing our barriers in Canada and increasing reliable partners internationally, and I’ve done both significantly. I feel like I’m ripe for the role here in in our riding. Because not only do I know where our pain is, I know where our possibilities are, and I’m making sure that you know my job is to serve.
As with much of Ontario and the country, homelessness and housing affordability have become increasing issues in Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands-and Rideau Lakes. What steps would you take as MP to improve housing for residents?
The timing couldn’t be better for our riding, because we’ve had some housing, some investment in homelessness, and some investment in affordable housing, but it’s nowhere near enough. Our economy needs an injection of energy and resources, and housing accomplishes. We will bring affordable housing and affordable services for both the young generation and our seniors to be able to stay and live here in our riding, which is new investment. It’s new job opportunities. We have many businesses that can’t hire people because people can’t afford to live here.
We need to increase our population in order to sustain our municipal infrastructure, our education tax base, and to service all of the things that are recreational in our community. We are going to make sure that our zoning bylaws and our development charges are released so that investors will want to invest in the housing market, so that we can double the number of houses that we’re building.
There’s also the relief for first time buyers and for seniors in particular. We’ve waived the GST and we’ve provided more opportunities post-COVID for people to buy homes under a million dollars at a cheaper price, and also for seniors to downsize.
Health care — including access to family physicians and increasing wait times at clinics and emergency rooms, as well as for surgeries — is a major concern for many in the area. What would you do as MP to help the situation?
A message I want to make clear is that healthcare was the number one issue in our riding prior to being superseded by the tariffs, and I haven’t forgotten that. Very high on our agenda when we get in office will be to meet with our provincial counterpart and figure out how we’re going to execute their primary health care plan. We want to make sure that our province delivers on what they said they would do, and I believe they will do this under the current circumstances.
Things like nurse/patient ratios and PSW/patient ratios, those are topics that we would like to bring to the table with the province. We know the research is clear that if you establish nurse/patient ratios, not only do you save people’s lives, but you also recruit back burnt out nurses because they will want to work in the system.
We know that we’re facing a crisis in our riding and 25 per cent of our community do not have a family physician. We can barely keep nurses in our hospitals. The emergency departments are more than double than what they are staffed to achieve right now. We need to bring standards in that will help our facilities and our institutions and our community to deliver in a way that saves lives.
As the threat of tariffs looms from the U.S., what are the most important things the federal government can do to advocate for its citizens and lessen the blow of any consequences?
Well, number one, we need Mark Carney, because I think he’s made that clear and has demonstrated already how capable he is at working with President Donald Trump. Such that President Donald Trump refers to Mark Carney as Prime Minister Mark Carney and he hasn’t challenged our sovereignty in terms of conversation in the way that he has done in the past, and we are seeing a difference in the tariffs that are being played out. Now, mind you, these are serious tariffs and we are going to be deeply affected by them, but at least we have somebody at the table who knows how to navigate these crises.
We’re actually living the reality of how he’s moving our agenda forward on our collective behalf. Second to that is his appreciation that people are going to suffer immeasurably, and we need to look after the employees, the businesses and the communities that are most affected. He’s just waved all of the barriers for EI and increased access and support. So for at least the next six months, those who are out of a job can get EI right away and are not waiting for anything. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.
This is again a pivotal time for our different communities and municipalities to make sure that their conversations are at the table, so that we make sure we are open for not just business, but for safeguarding our social safety net by making sure that people can mobilize and move around and live where they want to live. I actually think this will be an opportunity for us. I think there are many countries who would like to do business for us and with us that haven’t done it before.
What are you hearing with regard to post-secondary education and what will you do to advocate for those institutions within your riding?
In order to build and invest, you have to have training right? There’s no way around it. So what we will want to do is frequently find out what training we want in our colleges and make sure that the resources that come out of it, we get to keep here. Parallel to that is creating an innovation hub, so that we link our high school community and our businesses and our non governmental organizations to come together to create innovation that is local and that we can then build locally for our benefits, but also eventually maybe sell nationally and internationally.
The other piece to this is the international student community, and being one of the major players in the internationalization of higher education. Talented immigrants actually serve Canada extremely well, and they create jobs for Canadians. What you hear from Mark Carney is it’s not an end to international students. Far from it. What we have to do in the next couple of years is re-establish the infrastructure and have it catch up to who we have, and then we need to reinvest more. I will try to ensure that we can can recruit international students to our riding because I don’t believe we have that many.
If you could share one message with voters in Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands-and Rideau Lakes, what would it be?
I just want to reinforce that I am deeply proud of Canadians. They’re looking out for Canada first. They’re thinking about who is the best leader for this time in history…and and I see that every door I go to. I’ve had numerous Conservatives say, “I’ve decided I’m voting for Mark Carney because I believe that he’s the only person that can lead us through these terrible times.” He’s got the skill set, and I think it’s that magic combination that he’s an economist, but he’s an economist who cares about us.
It’s not about my ideas, it’s our ideas and the best ideas surfacing and then choosing what are the best ideas together and delivering. And I will deliver. I can represent you, because I know how to do it, and I would love the opportunity.
To learn more about LJ Edmonds, visit her website at
www.lj4u.ca