Third time thett charm f for Greens in Guelph
Schreiner captures first party seat in Ontario
It took three campaigns for provincial leader Mike Schreiner but this time voters in Guelph have helped him clear the historic hurdle, giving him Ontario’s first Green Party seat. That one seat would be enough to make a difference to provincial politics, promised the 48- year- old business owner, who pulled ahead in the final days of a tight, three- way race between himself, the NDP’s Agnieszka ( Aggie) Mylnarz and Progressive Conservative candidate Ray Ferraro.
Citing the example of federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Schreiner pledged to play a leadership role in reforming the “hyper- partisanship” of Queen’s Park.
“I think the way I conducted myself mm in this campaign. … I didn’t spend my time tearing the other parties down, I talked about how we can build Ontario up. I think that’s the change we need,” he said.
“I'm hoping through my actions and through the way I conduct myself, I can ask questions and participate in the process in a way that is less negative and less adversarial,” said Schreiner, who is married to University of Toronto sociology professor Sandy Welsh. They have two daughters, Isabelle, 18, and Beata, 12.
He credited his activism, volunteer work and 23- year roots in the organic food business that tt cemented his support in t the community of 131,790.
Guelph was fertile territory for the Green Party’s environmental and social justice vision, he said.
“I think just so much of our values really align well with Guelph,” said Schreiner. “We have the highest recycling rates in the province. We're the first community to develop a community energy project. We're the tt second community in On- tario to pass a resolution to 100 per cent renewable energy.”
“The anti- poverty task force and aa the social justice task force in Guelph have been strong advocates vv for over a decade now f for a basic income guarantee,” he said.
Mylnarz, 28, also had environmental activism on her platform as a volunteer with Plastic Free Guelph that is pushing government to ban single- use plastics.