David Cooper via Getty Images Mar 31 2011- Rathika Sitsabaiesan is the NDP candidate in Scarborough-Rouge River. In 2008 it had the lowest voter turn-out in the GTA in the last federal election. Stisabaiesan talks at the door with Sandy Rumana, 30, a young mom from Malaysia who just moved into the area. Her 9-month-old son's name is Ryan. (Photo by David Cooper/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Last week I announced my decision to seek the Ontario Liberal Party Nomination for the upcoming byelection in the riding of Scarborough-Rouge River, the same riding I represented as MP between 2011 and 2015.

My decision came after much thought and discussions with friends, family and supporters, but this was a long time in the making. The fact is that I was a progressive activist and community advocate long before I entered partisan politics. I have always been involved in working with others to deliver results. I have never been locked into old solutions when an innovative solution will work much better.

I became active in the community because I believe in working with people on the ground and have always been engaged in issues or causes based on the values I believe in: equality of opportunity, elevating the floor that everyone stands on, and being a voice for the voiceless.

I am a progressive who, like Jack Layton, believes in progress and that our best days are ahead, not behind us.

I have worked tirelessly to protect our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, equal opportunity for all, strong public healthcare and education, and a government that acts as a force for good in our community. Being progressive means being principled, and standing up for progress. That's what I have always done throughout my political life, and that is what I am doing now.

I was inspired and recruited to run by the late Jack Layton who I consider to be a true progressive. His vision was always about looking forward, not backward. Not fighting battles long past, or resting on laurels of successes long past. His leadership of the NDP was the first time an NDP leader was truly running to be prime minister, as he often said.

His own words have been used this past week at me, as if to imply that I have given up on something, that I have turned my back on my beliefs and values. I am a progressive who, like Jack Layton, believes in progress and that our best days are ahead, not behind us. I have given up no cause. My cause, my beliefs, my values remain exactly as they always were.

During the last federal election, I was often puzzled to hear so many references to the successes of Tommy Douglas and Jack Layton. There is nothing wrong with having pride in the heritage and history of a political party to which one belongs; but talking about yesterday without being grounded in today and having a clear vision for tomorrow is simply not progressive.

During one debate, Justin Trudeau was criticized on the basis that he was the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who had instituted the War Measures Act. This attempt to sway older former supporters from voting Liberal -- by reminding them of a policy they did not like -- did not work.