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Given that Peterborough, demographically, is dominated by the middle-aged and older, young people have felt their vote doesn’t matter, says Brent. That’s also been a plus for The Green Party, though, he says, because younger people are increasingly moving to support the environmentally-focused party, which has helped increase civic engagement in this age group. “We’re a pragmatic, solutions-focused party. Younger voters appreciate that.” Brent is an English teacher at Trent University in Peterborough. He just finished his PhD at the University of Toronto last year. He has been active in political and community-based organizations for some time, running for city council last fall and taking part in the Beyond The Parkway campaign. The Green Party explicitly supports democratic reform, another aspect of increasing civic engagement. National party leader, Jim Harris, recently called for immediate reforms to the current first-past-the-post voting system that results in disproportionate seat allocations, compared to the share of the popular vote won by each party. Brent says a great deal of The Green Party’s platform is focused on the environment because so many other issues tier down from there. For instance, he notes that health is a huge concern for Canadians but too much attention is placed on piecemeal, fragmented issues that don’t address root causes. For instance, he says it is imperative everyone cuts back on fossil fuel consumption, which has led to many of the respiratory problems we have today, subsequently increasing strain on the health care system. Brent notes the public gets mired in thinking the important part of the debate is how much money the federal government is giving to the provinces for health care, for example. “With all this inter-governmental squabbling, we often think of the federal and provincial governments as actual personalities, which is just nonsense. Let’s get to our values and go from there,” he suggests as a means of finding solutions to the problems confronting Canadians. Green Party support has surged in recent years. A recent poll shows it is strongest in British Columbia. Support there, where the party was founded, is at 11 per cent, but support in Ontario and Quebec is hovering around five per cent, too. The party already had more than 200 candidates fielded three months ago and expects many more. |
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This is the second in a series of profiles of federal candidates for the Peterborough area, leading up to an expected federal election call this spring. Roderick Benns recently spoke with Brent Wood, candidate for The Green Party.
Peaceful Communities is reaching more people! The Grassroots Review |
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