Green Party leader delivers campaign message by train

Canadians must face the election “wide awake,” said Green Party leader Elizabeth May, after stepping off the train in Jasper Monday as part of her whistle-stop tour across the country. 

“In 2006, we sleep-walked through an election in which Stephen Harper was elected by accident,” she said. “There is a brighter and more positive future on the horizon and to get there we have to embrace a politics that is based on grassroots democracy, on the voices of every Canadian being heard.”

May addressed a crowd of about 50 people, including a group of Grade 7-12 students from École Desrochers at the train station just before noon on Sept. 22. 

Train travel was a hot topic for the environmentalist. “We can embrace a brighter future where trains are not just tourist vehicles,” May said. “Train travel shouldn’t be the exclusive purview of those who can afford to travel through the Rockies by rail.”

She said the construction of a high speed train corridor is a necessity in this country, where we have the resources. 

“We are losing out as Bombardier, being the primo company in the world to make high speed rail is putting it in all around the world but not in Canada,” May said. “It’s really a backward decision to ignore the opportunities for modernization, reducing greenhouse gases and it’s a huge job creation opportunity for Canada.”

May touched on the Green Party’s platform, which she said includes concrete ideas, not just “dreaming.” The party talks about affordable and accessible daycare, supporting families who choose to stay home with their kids, eradicating poverty, and protecting health care, she said. 

“We know that these things are doable, they’re possible,” she said. “But only when they’re the fundamental goals of the government in power.”

École Desrochers teacher Keven Masson said it was his students’ idea to attend the rally, and he thought it was a great way to get them thinking about politics. He tied it into a lesson, in which the students learned about the Green Party so they would know what May was talking about when she came to town.

Student Carly Charlebois, 16, said she has always liked the Green Party and was excited to see May. “She was an amazing speaker,” Charlebois said. “Her words resonated with truth and I loved the values.”

Candidates Monika Schaefer for the Yellowhead riding as well as Brendan Hughes for Thunder Bay – Superior North joined May in Jasper. Hughes said he was in Jasper for a wedding and took the opportunity to meet May, who began her six-day trip from Vancouver to Halifax on Sept. 21.

May, who grew up in Nova Scotia, is running against Minister of Defence Peter MacKay in the Central Nova riding on the east coast.