Green campaign bio-fuelled by local teacher's effort

John Abbott College professor Ryan Young began putting up his provincial Green Party candidate signs for the third time last Friday afternoon under a cloudy sky at Valois Village in Pointe Claire.

"The Green Party was caught off-guard by the election," he explained during an interview as he sat in the front passenger seat of supporter Zoe Statigakos' bio-fuel powered modified Volkswagen vehicle. "No one expected a provincial election to be called."

That was why all Green Party of Quebec candidates, including Young, only got their posters less than two weeks before Election Day on December 8.

However this late start to his campaign has not deterred Young from giving his all to running again, based on both some local priorities concerning Jacques Cartier and provincial ones set by the party.

For Young, the tensions between Montreal and related municipalities over power and financial help, and the provincial government's failure to help them solve this struggle, all tie back into environmental concerns.

"(The Liberal government) said the age of municipal downloading is over," he said. However, municipalities still have a difficult time updating their infrastructure because Montreal does not receive enough funding from the provincial government and thus has to keep some for itself.

"We want to protect L'Anse à L'Orme Park (in Ste. Anne de Bellevue)," Young said. "We want to keep protecting Angell Woods (in Beaconsfield)," he added.

However, without the proper funding, municipalities cannot help them do that, he said. For example, Quebec simply told Montreal to deal with Ste. Anne de Bellevue and come to an agreement over the preservation of L'Anse à L'Orme, Young claimed, rather than help them figure it out.

As a result of municipal under-funding, some municipalities have had to adopt unpopular methods for raising cash, such as the parking metres in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Young said. "Who likes parking metres in a quaint little village?" He questioned. However, Ste. Anne simply did not have a choice.

Young was realistic about his chances, stating he would like to get at least 11 per cent of the popular vote, and finish in a strong second place. The more popular supports the Greens get, he said, the more the provincial government would pay attention.

"(A strong Green vote) always influences the other parties that do have access to power to pay attention to the issues that we bring up," he said.