Video Address: Introducing Justin Trottier, Parkdale-High Park Green Candidate!

Justin Trottier introduces himself and the Green Party of Ontario to residents of Parkdale-High Park.

The transcript of his remarks are below:

Friends and neighbours,

I’m Justin Trottier, and I’m excited to introduce myself to the citizens of Parkdale-High Park as your candidate with the Green Party of Ontario in the October election.  I am committed to working with all residents — parents, business owners, community activists and anyone interested in helping me to more effectively represent the issues that matter to them.

The Green party offers a fresh perspective on governance, and my goal is to offer a new and contemporary voice, with no commitments to vested special interests or inflexible established policy.

I’ve heard it said that the Green Party is unelectable.
Greens in Ontario have come a long way. In 2007 we received 6 times more votes than all minor parties combined. We averaged 8 % of the popular vote and some of our candidates placed second and third in their riding.  We are ready to build on these gains, as well as the recent victory of Elizabeth May, federal Green Party leader,  the first Green to be elected to office in Canada.

I’ve heard it said the Green party is too idealistic.
Our party and its platform combines the optimism needed to make Ontario once again a leader in Canada with a pragmatic approach to solving our problems

I’ve heard it said that the Green Party is a single issue party.
Every party has a central paradigm that gives it force.  Ours is sustainability.  Sustainability certainly underpins our environmental policies, but it also is at the core of our entire platform.  That  bold platform, developed with thousands of Ontarians, covers all major sectors – jobs, energy, health care, education, transportation, food and farming, and governance reform.

When we talk about sustainability, we’re dedicated to moving beyond an exclusive focus on the near term, whether it’s the next 4 years in the political cycle or the next quarter in the business world.  Instead, we want to think about the long term progress and direction of our civilization. The approaches we’ve been taking have gotten us here, but they aren’t sustainable and they won’t work in the long term.  The challenges we face necessitate creative solutions and new ways of doing things.  They require something other than the traditional left-right political divide.

On a personal note, if the Green party is solely a one issue party, I wouldn’t be a candidate.  I didn’t wake up one day and suddenly declare myself a Green, blindly adopting its philosophy. Instead, through my life and my work I’ve found myself being led to its principles and values again and again.

We have an amazing riding.  I see it in the natural beauty of a stroll through High Park as much as in the passion of our people.  We have a lot in our community for which we should be proud.

We’re proud of Parkdale residents leading rallies to voice our concern for cuts to important services.

We’re proud of community groups like Green 13 and the Clean train coalition working to improve our air and our environment.

We’re proud of the many farmers markets working to improve our nutrition and grant us access to delicious local food

We’re proud of community health centres like the Four Villages working to improve our health and well being,

And we’re proud of the amazing number of Business Improvement Areas using decentralized economic approaches to increase the vibrancy of our neighborhoods.

Thanks for listening. Now I’m interested in hearing from each of you.  What is it that motivates you to get involved in our community? What issues should we work on together this election campaign?