Former Sudbury NDP candidate Paul Loewenberg has been chosen to lead the NDP Northern Council, according to a news release.

He was selected during the annual convention held this past weekend in Timmins.

“It is an honour to have gained the support and trust of so many talented MPPs and MPs from Northern
Ontario who put their faith in me to lead the Northern Ontario NDP Council,” said Loewenberg.

“We are at an unprecedented time in Ontario history; the McGuinty Liberals have just shut down the Legislature, they've shut down voices from the North just so they can focus on their own Liberal interests.”

Loewenberg ran in the 2011 provincial election, earning 13,204 votes — only 521 votes away from unseating the 16-year incumbent Liberal MPP. He has been presenting arts and cultural events in the city of Sudbury for 20 years, manages two local businesses.

He has served as the artistic director of the Northern Lights Festival Boreal since 1999 along with sitting for many years on municipal committees for Downtown Business and Arts related projects.

The NDP is the only party to have a regional council for the North that meets every year to discuss and propose policies that are specifically aimed at improving Northern Ontario, according to the press release.

“I look forward to working with other ridings in Northern Ontario to continue building the NDP and being the only party to truly stand up for the North,” Loewenberg said.

“The McGuinty Liberals have forgotten the North and the Minister of Natural Resources, Michael Gravelle, and Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Rick Bartolucci, have all but abandoned their posts because the Liberals shut down the Legislature to avoid inquiries into scandals that have cost the province hundreds of millions of dollars.”