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Entering the race this year, Jess Dixon, the PC candidate running in the Kitchener South-Hespeler riding, wants to create long lasting change that will benefit her community, which she has called home all her life.
She chose to get into politics for the most fundamental of reasons; “to make a difference.”
After completing her law degree at the University of Ottawa, she was called to the bar in 2014, then returned to Cambridge, her home, to work as a provincial Crown attorney in the Kitchener courthouse.
“I’m very involved in my local community and work directly with individuals to navigate the justice system and access services. I love doing it, but I want to do more,” said Dixon.
As a Crown attorney, she worked with people who were struggling from various challenges such as mental health or addiction, who she felt often were falling between the cracks in the system.
“In my efforts to help them, I became very focused on how we could strengthen or redesign our systems, especially the education, healthcare, and justice systems - to prevent those cracks from forming.”
Dixon decided to run in the upcoming election after becoming increasingly concerned with the division she saw growing in the community.
She hopes to bridge people together by working collaboratively to solve the complex problems facing the region.
“We made it through the last couple of years. It was tough, but we did it together.”
A new politician on the scene, the campaign trail has been a fun adventure so far for Dixon, allowing her to meet new people and some familiar ones, including Premier Doug Ford who came out recently to show some support.
“I am brand new to politics so this has been quite an adventure! I’m running because I want to be at the table to address the root causes of the issues and the suffering of people that I speak with and support on a daily basis.”
Dixon attributes her motivation in life to her parents, Ruth and Eric, a nurse and an engineer that both work in the region. They provided her with inspiration on what it means to be compassionate, work hard and be highly principled.
After buying her first home in 2015, she has spent many hours in her spare time “gutting, renovating, and essentially building it back from the studs.”
“I spend most of my spare time working on continuing DIY projects and my ever-expanding garden. Time with friends and family often results in my dragging them along with me to the hardware store or garden centres.”
She also enjoys listening to podcasts, spending time with animals and reading when she’s not too busy campaigning.
Ever since Dixon was a young child, her teachers saw a strong sense of right and wrong in her, something she says she still carries with her.
“Somewhere in my mother’s collection of childhood memorabilia there rests a preschool report card in which my teacher Michelle wrote ‘I see Jess in some area of law. She has a very well-defined sense of right and wrong.’ Turns out, Michelle knew what she was talking about, and that well-defined sense of right and wrong has only become stronger.”
