Though not yet the official candidate, sole Green Party nomination contestant Shaughn McArthur has thrown his hat in the ring in the hope that he will represent the Pontiac riding on Parliament Hill.

Having announced his intention to represent the Green Party on Earth Day, April 22, McArthur, a Wakefield resident, told THE EQUITY in an interview that . . .

his motivation for running for public office for the first time stems from what he views to be an existential need to address climate change.

“We have less than nine years to take some really bold action in this country and in countries around the world to avoid the most severe consequences of climate change,” he said.

McArthur has called the riding home since moving back from Europe to live in Wakefield around 10 years ago. Prior to that, he spent his late teens and early 20s appreciating the natural beauty the Pontiac has to offer, working as a canoe trip guide and travelling waterways such as the Ottawa River, the Coulonge River and the Dumoine River.

Having spent a number of years working in a non-partisan fashion as a climate policy analyst at the federal and international level, being a social justice advocate on Parliament Hill for several years and spending time working for a senator, McArthur said he felt the present time was right for him to take a stab at party politics.

“I’ve reached a point in my life where I no longer trust the big parties to do what it takes to get done, what needs to be done in the short time available,” he said. “I’ve entered a stage of my life where I can devote my energies to partisan politics to try to push the envelope a little bit.”

He said that the country still reeling from COVID is a good example to analyze to show how delicate society’s systems are should climate change have catastrophic effects, as many experts predict it will.

“If we don’t build our resilience, we’ve seen how systems, everything from our health systems to food supply chains have been crippled, and that’s pretty minor compared to what we anticipate to have happen unless we deal with climate change,” he said.

While he chose not to go into specific policy prescriptions yet, he said that even if he doesn’t win the election, his number one goal is to centre the conversation around creating a “green, inclusive, economic transition platform.”

“I think that as the Pontiac, there’s a massive opportunity for this riding to bring together different interest groups, different economic sectors, and to really position the Pontiac community at large, the wider Pontiac economy, to be a leader in the shifts that we need to happen,” he added.

McArthur said he views two of the major economic industries in the Pontiac: agriculture and forestry, as two areas where the government needs to facilitate “inclusive, green transitions” to a more climate-friendly economy.

He also said that he understands the diversity of needs throughout the riding, as he’s especially aware of the economic depression that has continued to exist in areas, like the MRC Pontiac.

“We have extremely affluent communities, but we also have some of the poorest areas in Quebec,” he said. “And to me that’s not acceptable, and it’s a result of a failure of leadership. And I think that the Green Party has some great policies for addressing that.”

He did note one specific issue that he would address were he elected, and that is what he perceives to be inequities in the National Capital Commission-ran Gatineau Park’s setup.

“It’s rather inequitable and unfair to me, that all of the access into this massive resource called Gatineau Park, that people seek out from around the world to enjoy our natural heritage, that all that access is in Chelsea, when we know we have some very poor communities bordering other parts of the park,” he explained.

McArthur said that his message to Pontiac residents is this: electing climate-aware representatives from smaller political parties, such as himself, can still have a significant impact on policy, especially with a minority government.

“What I think Pontiac residents need to think about is the fact that when you elect somebody, when you elect a representative from one of the two big parties to the Pontiac … you wind up with a spokesperson for the PMO [Prime Minister’s Office],” he said.

“Things get done in Canada, when you do have a minority government with a strong progressive party to pull the party that forms government … in a direction that will benefit people and [the] planet. So I’m saying, people, planet and Pontiac, let’s do it.”

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