With the election around the corner, I’ve been reflecting on what I want in a representative — and it really comes down to one thing: transparency. I’m not expecting perfection. I’m not even expecting agreement. But I do think anyone asking for our vote should be honest about what they believe, how they vote, and why.
That’s why Marilyn Gladu’s record has been bothering me. It’s not just that she votes a certain way — it’s that she says one thing in Sarnia–Lambton and then does something very different in Ottawa. And over time, that gap starts to look less like politics and more like deception.
Take the $6 million that came to Sarnia for the Oversized Load Corridor. Gladu stood at the press event and talked about how she’d been pushing for that funding for years. What she didn’t say was that she voted against the 2017 federal budget — the very budget that created the fund that gave us the money.
Or look at the FedDev Ontario funding that supported local businesses during the pandemic. Gladu praised it publicly as “huge for our region.” But again, she voted against Budget 2021, which made it possible.
Same story with new health and dental care funding in Budget 2022. She put out a press release applauding the help it would provide to people in need — then voted no when the bill came forward.
I understand that federal budgets are massive, complex documents. It’s fair for an opposition MP to vote against one based on principle. But what I take issue with is pretending you support the outcomes of that budget locally, while having actively worked against them nationally. If you’re going to take credit for the wins, at least be upfront about how you voted.
This pattern shows up in other places too. Gladu spoke out strongly in Parliament against cannabis legalization, framing it as a moral issue. Yet shortly after, she posed for photos at a local cannabis facility, smiling alongside executives like she’d championed the industry. It’s not about whether cannabis is good or bad — it’s about whether we can trust what she says.
That’s the thread that ties all of this together: trust and transparency. It’s not just about votes. It’s about what beliefs guide those votes. Back in 2019, I wrote two pieces — Why I Had To Say Something About Marilyn Gladu and Marilyn Gladu and Her Dangerous Religious Beliefs — because I felt we weren’t getting the full story.
Gladu’s deeply held religious convictions seem to influence her decisions on LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive health, cannabis, and more. And that’s her right. But when those values shape her public role, I think voters deserve to know about them. Instead, she rarely speaks about them directly. They’re left out of campaign literature and media appearances, even though they clearly impact how she governs.
We’re not just voting on policies. We’re voting on people. On character. On values. If someone’s beliefs shape how they represent us, we should be told what those beliefs are — not find out only after the votes are cast.
Marilyn Gladu talks a lot about standing up for Sarnia–Lambton. But if that’s true, then she should trust us enough to be honest — about her votes, her beliefs, and her intentions. Because representation without transparency isn’t representation at all.
We deserve better than that.