On the trail with Taylor Howarth
Although it seems unlikely she will be Ottawa South’s next MPP, Green Party candidate Taylor Howarth says she is planting the seeds of change for future ballot-box success.
The Greens have run candidates in provincial elections in this riding since 1990, peaking in 2007 with 3,900 votes or eight per cent of the total ballots cast.
The Liberals have had a lock on Ottawa South since the 1980s, but Howarth says that might not always be the case. Many voters are expressing frustration with the status quo approach of Ontario’s three main political parties, but it remains to be seen what effect, if any, such a sentiment will have on Aug. 1, when voters here head to the polls to replace former premier and longtime MPP Dalton McGuinty.
“Anybody but the Liberals,” says one man, outside a large home near The Ottawa Hospital’s General campus on Smyth Road.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of that,” Howarth responds with a smile.
Later, after leaving a home on Fairbanks Avenue where she spent several minutes chatting with a prospective voter, Howarth is upbeat.
“My goal is to have conversations like that because it’s planting seeds,” she says. “The best part is to get people thinking of an alternative.”
She is certainly that.
At 26, Howarth is the youngest mainstream candidate in the race (Independent candidate Tivadar Banfalvi graduated from high school in June). She says that’s both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. “I don’t have baggage,” she says. But she doesn’t live in Ottawa South and ran in another riding in the 2011 election (she didn’t call that riding home either).
Howarth plays down suggestions that that could be an issue with voters looking for a strong local voice to represent them at Queen’s Park.
“It’s not like my values change depending where I go,” Howarth says.
Her party promotes local food and the preservation of farmland, a more holistic approach to health care (focusing more on preventive care) and creating “green jobs” through building retrofits and community power projects.
Howarth, who recently graduated from St. Paul University with a degree in ethics, also wants to make life more “socially and economically viable” for young people like her so they can enter the workforce, save up to buy a home and start a family.
She wants to see more apprenticeship training programs created and says the government’s clean energy benefit, worth about $1 billion, should instead be invested in social programs.
Wearing skinny jeans and a dressy tank top while canvassing in punishing humidity, Howarth’s approach is laid back and confident. She goes with the flow and remains cucumbercool, even when voters dismiss her or when a pair of young canvassing volunteers disappear into a man’s garage to admire his vintage Mercedes.
“It’s fun,” she says of soliciting. “I love people, I love what they have to offer. I love hearing their stories.”
At another home on Fairbanks Avenue, an older woman grills Howarth about her education, her job prospects, her campaign finances and her ability to speak French.
When the 10-minute conversation is over, the woman asks for a Green Party button.
“I admire your guts,” she says before closing the screen door. “I may even vote for you.”