Keith Pickard is looking to follow in his late father’s footsteps.
The Kingsville businessman has been chosen to run for the Liberal Party to represent Chatham-Kent–Leamington in Ottawa.
Pickard brings deep Liberal ties to the race. His father, Jerry Pickard, was elected to represent Chatham-Kent-Essex in Ottawa a total of five times between 1988 and 2005.
The younger Pickard has achieved success in his own right. As an entrepreneur, Pickard has founded two successful businesses supplying packaging material to the greenhouse industry.
The announcement was made by the Liberal Party April 1 as organizers scrambled to get the election machine up and running.
Pickard will face off against incumbent Dave Epp, who has been elected to serve C-K-L in the House of Commons for two consecutive terms beginning in 2019.
Other candidates that have said they will run in the April 28 election include Seamus Fleming of the New Democratic Party, James Plunkett for the Green Party, and Trevor Lee of the People’s Party of Canada.
This year’s election brings an electoral boundary change that will see all of Chatham-Kent vote in the reconfigured C-K-L riding.
Advance polls will take place on April 18-21.
