Ryan Williams to lead Bay of Quinte riding conservatives in next federal election

Ryan Williams with his wife Allyson and their children.

The Bay of Quinte Conservative party has chosen Ryan Williams to lead them in the next federal election. A virtual vote for the riding’s party candidate was held Sunday night between Williams, and Shelby Kramp-Neuman.

Ryan Williams

“Thank you so much to our tremendous supporters, our incredible volunteers, and all of the Bay of Quinte community,” said Williams. “Through COVID19, and including navigating a new online system, this was almost the work of two nominations. We are incredibly thankful and are looking forward to taking the campaign to the next level and winning support from the entire Bay of Quinte region for the next election.”

Williams, vice-president of Williams Hotels, and a Belleville councillor, said his campaign focused on ‘Moving Bay of Quinte Forward’ by focusing on growth that includes affordable housing, creating jobs that keep youth here, and being part of a government that increases the respect to military, veterans, and seniors.

“Some believe that youth are the voice of tomorrow. I say that youth are the voice of today,” said Williams in his nomination speech.

He also focused on rural Bay of Quinte as a leader for rural Canada.

“We don’t need a great reset of our economy. We need a great rebuild of what will make Canada thrive – it’s rural regions like the Bay of Quinte that have so much potential; potential I know how to unlock, potential we saw in 2018 when QuinteVation hosted Canada’s first rural innovation summit.”

Williams acknowledged co-runner Shelby Kramp-Neuman, and her family.

Kramp-Neuman, a financial advisor, former councillor and Deputy Mayor in Centre Hastings, announced her intention to run in August. The candidate in the 2019 election, Tim Durkin, announced he would not seek re-election, preferring to focus on his growing family.

“We knew going into this we would have some really tough competition. Thank you to Shelby for a tough race, and I know we have both expressed many times that the focus now is on bringing everyone together and winning the next election.”

During the campaign, Ryan acknowledged inspiration from his late grandfather Don, who won the PC nomination in 1976, and his late father John Williams, who won the PC nomination in 2002. After he created his platform, he learned his grandfather Don had a similar one to create ‘enterprise for youth, and fix affordable housing’ in 1976.

“For 44 years these problems have persisted, now is the time to fix them.”

Don Williams had another campaign promise – to build a new marina in Trenton. That was completed, Ryan notes, with his dad John and Quinte West council in 2010.

The Williams Campaign team, he notes, “will now switch gears to get ready for a possible spring election”.

In 2019, MP Neil Ellis won the riding with 39.1 per cent of the vote, followed by Durkin at 36 per cent of the vote. In 2015, Ellis had 50 per cent of the votes over conservative candidate Jodie Jenkins at 34 per cent.