By Sarah MacDonald and Kristin Nelson
Keith Fountain is a local man with big ideas about the world.
He spent 15 years working for the foreign service, travelling to Poland, Pakistan and Malaysia. In 2003, he was a senior official during the establishment of the new Canadian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Last May, the 40-year-old took a leave of absence from his position as Deputy Director for Afghanistan in the Department of Foreign Affairs to run as the Conservative candidate for Ottawa Centre in the upcoming federal election.
On a snowy November afternoon, Fountain sits in the living room of his Centretown home to discuss his campaign. The room is scattered with his two-year-old daughter’s toys and books, and decorated with exotic art.
“My first experience abroad was Sri Lanka…with Canada World Youth,” he says. “I dug ditches in a village.”
Although this is Fountain’s first time running for office, he’s no political neophyte. He helped with the 2004 Conservative campaign and worked for a provincial NDP candidate when he was 19.
“If you’re not a socialist when you’re young, you have no heart; if you’re not a conservative when you’re old, you have no brain,” he says about his political change of heart.
Fountain says he’d change the Liberal’s foreign policy if elected. He says Canada should increase military cooperation with the U.S. and increase foreign aid. However, aid money should be concentrated on countries closely linked to Canadian security, like Afghanistan, he says.
“I think 0.7 per cent (of GNI) is an achievable goal, not to just push the money out the door, which is what happens now…but to use aid as one of our tools,” Fountain says.
Locally, Fountain said he’d like to increase childcare funding by giving money directly to parents rather than to daycare centres. He’d also relocate a parole office across the street from Elgin Street Public School.
“[The parole office] was a mistake in the first place because they didn’t consult with anyone, so let’s just move it,” Fountain says.
Fountain says the average Canadian family pays an excessive 50 per cent of their income in taxes. “There just never seems to be enough money to follow your dreams.”
He’d like to see the government reduced to its “core functions.” About $90 billion worth of government programs could be cut from the $200 billion budget, he says. Even programs like Canada World Youth, which he took part in, might not be relevant, he says.
Fountain calls himself an “urban conservative,” who supports initiatives like cleaner air and same-sex marriage. He says he’s aware of Ottawa Centre’s large gay population and says the gay community has the same concerns as other Canadians, such as safety and taxes.
He says his government experience gave him the ability to navigate the system, cut through red tape and achieve results. “I know how to talk to bureaucrats because I am one.”
Raised in Ottawa, Fountain likes eating Sri Lankan food at Ceylonta on Somerset Street and riding his motorcycle with his wife, Jacquie Bogden.
When he’s not door-knocking he enjoys listening to “chill-out” music and playing computer games.
“World of Warcraft is my current favourite. In a world where there are no laws and no police, everyone is still really nice, even though they don’t have to be.”