Vigneault wants every vote to count
Cecile Vigneault didn’t want to see the Green Party without a candidate in Pictou West, so she put forth her name.
She got involved with the Green Party during the 2015 federal election. She said Central Nova candidate David Hachey needed an official agent, and she took on the role because of her bookkeeping background.
“I became a candidate because there wasn’t going to be one. I said I’d do it for this election, and people have been great.”
The Pictou resident was born in the Shiretown, but grew up in Montreal when her family moved there and her father began working for the Canadian National Railway. After completing her schooling, Vigneault lived in Vancouver for 27 years, where she worked full-time, and taught bookkeeping at night. She returned to Nova Scotia in 1998, and lives with her siblings.
Now retired, Vigneault is a member of the Pictou Community New Horizons 50+ Club, where she participates in line dancing and performs at nursing homes throughout Pictou County. She also enjoys gardening and quilting, and is a member of Northumberland Quilt Guild. As well, Vigneault joined Pictou Positive, a group working toward strengthening the town through beautification, growing the economy via festivals and events, and recruiting and retaining more people and businesses.
Because she’s busy with these activities, Vigneault isn’t campaigning door-to-door, but instead is attending as many organized events as she can, and also getting the word out about her party’s message through media.
The Green Party’s platform involves improving government, preventing and fighting poverty, protecting the environment, and strengthening communities and the economy.
The party hopes to achieves these goals through such measures as the implementation of living wage – a minimum income necessary for a citizens to meet all basic needs, investing in green energy, and facilitating small business and new employment opportunities through broadband internet access for all Nova Scotians.
As well, Vigneault would like to improve health care by addressing the doctor shortage, establishing more widespread use of preventative medicine practices, and making changes that ensure everyone has access to prescription drugs when they need them.
Vigneault and her party are also proponents of fair proportional representation. “I want every vote to count; it doesn’t matter what party you belong to. If you vote, then you have the right to have your vote counted. Don’t vote for the party or the candidate. Vote for a principle that you believe in. Find the voice that follows your principle and join that voice. Pictou West riding’s voice of all the citizens need to be heard so as a community we can work together as one team.”