The environment, our health and safety, thriving communities, satisfying jobs, fiscal responsibility; the issues important to the Green Party are the same issues that are important to most Canadians. We need to find more ways to make more Canadians aware of that and to show what’s possible.
We have always been a party of strong policies and ideas. We often promote important policies long before the other major parties do. Now people and the planet need us to be the party of solutions. They need our policies to become realities. This means our goal must be to form government. To do this, I will champion our sound policies and strong candidates.
To form government we need to attract new voters, disenfranchised voters, strategic voters and voters disappointed by the status quo parties. I spent over 10 years working in media including on multiple elections. The big media conglomerates ignore or misrepresent Greens. But Canadians increasingly get their news through non-traditional channels. We need to find new and better ways to communicate with Canadians.
I’ve been actively involved in multiple Green EDAs for years, and in contact with several more. EDAs and our volunteers are the lifeblood of the Green Party and I know many of them do not have the resources to be active between elections. And after being on the EDA side for so many years I know that the Green Party needs to connect more with our EDAs. We need them to be strong and organized to elect enough MPs to form government. We need to help them recruit new members, train new volunteers and fundraise. We need to be already walking between elections so when elections are called, we can quickly run.
As leader I will continue to work with the GPC’s amazing staff and Federal Council to help the EDAs lay the groundwork for our success.
I want to be the Leader of the Green Party because I want to help as many people as possible. The best way I feel I can do that is to get the Green Party elected so we can pass truly meaningful legislation that helps our people and our planet.
I thought of the Green Party when I first got involved in politics (around 2004), but like a lot of people, I incorrectly thought the Greens were a one-issue party. So I then volunteered for the other three parties to various degrees. I didn’t stay long with any of them because I didn’t feel completely connected to any of them.
I have seen and become close to many Green members and candidates since joining the party. Canadians haven’t been exposed properly (or at all) to all of our amazing candidates. These candidates, and members, have passion, ideas and experience that will make the lives of Canadians better. They deserve a leader that will help these policies and ideas see the light of day.
As leader I want to make sure more Green voices are heard. I want to be the lead voice of so many other strong voices.