Greening Provincial Policy - a conversation with Mike Schreiner, MPP Green Party Ontario

Today I want to share with you my conversation with Mike Schreiner

Mike is the head of the Provincial Green Party, and MPP for Guelph

He was in Thunder Bay last week, invited to speak at the

Northern Ontario Municipal Association's annual conference.

His team reached out to me asking if I'd like to interview him for this podcast while he was in town, and I said yes.

I asked him to meet with me at the local coffee roastery and cafe Rose N Crantz.

tape

Something Different This Way Comes

Mike Schreiner is the leader of the Green Party on Ontario, one of two members of the Green Party who won seats in the current Provincial Legislature. He is the MPP for Guelph.

And I spoke with him at Rose N Crantz Coffee shop in Thunder Bay on April 23.

A few moments that really stuck with me from the conversation:

Now is the time to build our regional resilience: housing, food, affordability, education, energy

Funding all of that doesn't have to take more money than we're already spending.

It would take getting rid of some bad policies:

like the moratorium on wind power generation on or near water -

and how we subsidize electricity costs to disproportionally benefit the wealthy rather than those needing help

and stopping paying a premium for fracked gas from the US and instead let markets opt for the affordable: wind, solar and energy storage facilities

The phrase "legislated poverty", forcing people on Disability or Welfare to have less than they need. It is so wrong, and just takes fixing our legislated policies to fix

So much he shared there that gave me hope, and ideas.

From an insider / outsider's perspective. The Green Party has a front row seat, and takes full advantage of their access to information. But they are so far from aiming to rule they are free to comment and collaborate.

Kind of like us average voters, only amplified. He is elected, but we the electing, our power is similar.

We can know so much about what's going on, and what options there are we could transition towards and why changes are worth risking. We may be only one vote, only one voice, but when we speak up we can build momentum, but only if first we build our community connections. Build relationships.

I loved his comments on the power of together, of raises and concerns raised as a group

Doesn't have to be a big group, to be impactful, to be heard.

Although I did notice the one on one conversation that he referenced, I'm betting that was Brendan Grant from Sleepy G Farms telling him how their locally-grown carrots were the only carrots to be found for purchase in Thunder Bay when COVID challenged our food supply chains.

So even one person's story told once to one person - can really make an impression.

I think that's worth talking about.

I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Mike Schreiner.

I would be delighted if you like this episode on your podcast provider, give it a great review or recommend it to a friend. The more people listen, the more I am assured this podcast is worth my time researching and recording, editing and promoting it.

I don't know when the next episode will be posted.

Next time I find a conversation to record, or a rant that I want to share, I'll make it into a podcast. But it's not a weekly gig at the moment.

I do a weekly radio show on CILU Radio now every Monday at 6 pm, you can find all the local climate action news I reference in it on my blog at Something Different This Way Comes.ca

As well as previous episodes of this show.

My name is Heather McLeod. Thank you for joining me