New Brunswick border town reacts to Trump\u2019s 51st state comments<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n
\u201cHe believes in the process; he believes in the potential. He believes that we can actually make positive change in society through these democratic processes,\u201d said Stahlbrand, a professor and food policy analyst.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need people like Mike to be making the decision to go into politics, people who are people of integrity and who really have a vision for the province and who care so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
For nearly the first decade at the party\u2019s helm,\u00a0Schreiner\u00a0sat in the legislature with tourists and school groups, up in the public gallery.<\/p>\n
In 2018, he broke through and won the party\u2019s first seat in his home riding of Guelph. He won re-election in 2022 and then got company at Queen\u2019s Park in 2023, when Aislinn Clancy won the Greens\u2019 second seat in a Kitchener Centre byelection.<\/p>\n
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Under\u00a0Schreiner, the party has slowly built up its share of the popular vote but has never cracked the eight-per-cent mark they hit in 2007.<\/p>\n
In that election, Schreiner\u2019s predecessor garnered headlines for the party\u2019s stance on unifying the public and Catholic school boards. But the issue is no longer considered a priority for the party and the platform instead looks to boost per-student funding to make up for levels they suggest have not kept up with inflation.<\/p>\n
Schreiner, meanwhile, has made a point of speaking to rural ridings he claims have been \u201cabandoned\u201d by Doug Ford\u2019s Progressive Conservative government. In making his case, he often cites how much the province would have to spend to build a private spa at Ontario Place or to rip up major bike lanes in Toronto, as Ford has pledged.<\/p>\n
Like NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie,\u00a0Schreiner\u00a0has also been highly critical of Ford\u2019s since-reversed move to open protected Greenbelt lands for housing development.<\/p>\n
Yet, the Greens are playing with a different set of election goalposts than the other major parties.\u00a0Schreiner\u00a0would consider it a victory if the party is able to get even one more seat added to its two-person Queen\u2019s Park caucus.<\/p>\n
The Greens have their eyes on a few select ridings on the outskirts of the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. They are hopeful longtime candidate Matt Richter can pull off a victory in Parry Sound-Muskoka, a riding he narrowly lost in 2022, and have also focused their energy on Dufferin-Caledon, where they have performed comparatively well in the past. They\u2019re also looking at Wellington-Halton Hills, a race with no incumbent.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe build from the bottom up, and that\u2019s what people power looks like, and that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to take to implement the kinds of policy changes we need in Ontario to put people over profits and to build a fairer province,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people in this country are getting sick of leader-centric politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n