I am passionate about providing underemployed and unemployed workers opportunities and training to find work in the environmental sector. In my past employment I helped auto workers in Ontario find work in the "green economy". I'm currently working on a project that helps natural resource workers in Alberta and BC find work in habitat restoration, coastal restoration, and mined land reclamation.
I feel strongly about conserving and protecting nature for future generations. Nature already knows how to sequester carbon dioxide through forests, healthy grasslands, clean oceans, wetlands, etc. but as we continue to push nature to the brink with increasing fossil fuel emissions and accelerating habitat destruction the earth is losing its ability to mitigate climate change. We can help it along with policies to protect nature and to undo the damage we have caused through remediation, reclamation, and restoration. I also believe in helping farmers transition to organic and regenerative farming practices that protect the soil, sequester carbon and protect our pollinators.
I feel that the government should be implementing evidence-based policy to benefit all Canadians. For example, 91% of Canadians support pharmacare – a policy to ensure affordable medications for all. The majority of Canadians also want some form of proportional representation so that all our voices and votes will count. If the majority of Canadians want this then the government should be looking at ways to implement these and make it fair for all.
My perspective is that communities need to be more actively involved and consulted in decision-making particularly when those decisions have a direct impact on our wellbeing. Communication and collaboration are key components of having functioning democracies at the local level.
We need representatives that will lead with political courage and the ability to work with diverse groups of people and find common ground. I am a regular person and not a lawyer or career politician. However, I have the skills to do the job of an MLA and I have the capacity to work with many different people. I am a big picture systems thinker and I look for systemic solutions, not bandaid fixes.