Voters in the riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound now have a Green Party candidate to vote for in the next federal election.
The BGOS Greens nominated Emma Jane Hogbin as their candidate on Tuesday night at their nomination meeting held at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound.
In her speech prior to the vote Hogbin used the ten minutes she was allocated to inspire and motivate her fellow Green Party members.
“Tonight I want to give you a gift. Tonight I am going to grant you permission to be excited about things that matter to you. I am going to show you how politics can be a natural part of life. As of tonight I am giving you permission to be positively excited about participation and your community,” Hogbin told the audience.
Hogbin also acknowledged that voters turn to the Green Party for a variety of personal reasons but share a common goal.
“I know some of you are Harper-haters, some of you are land stewards, some of you are farmers and small business owners and gardeners and vegans. But you’re all here because you want something different of the world. You’re here to plan the future. Welcome. I’m positively excited that you’re here.”
A freelance technical author, Hogbin works from her home office in Owen Sound, and is a highly sought after technical speaker who has given presentations around the world about the importance of small business, open source software and the role of women in technology. In her speech Hogbin said that she would use modern technology as part of her campaign strategy.
“I carry an invisible knapsack. It is filled with the tools we’ll need to engage our community: Facebook, Twitter, Web sites, mailing lists, online marketing, offline participation days. My knapsack is bursting with possibilities.”
Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has expressed a belief that the Greens could win in the BGOS riding and even had the riding on her short list when she was deciding where to run her own campaign when the next election is called. Though she ultimately chose to run in British Columbia, the past success of the party in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound offers party faithful hope that success could be around the corner.
In the last federal election in 2008 Green candidate Dick Hibma finished a strong second to MP Larry Miller with 27 percent of the vote, and in 2006 Shane Jolley had the highest percentage of votes of any Green candidate in Canada garnering nearly 13 percent of the votes in the riding. Jolley built on that success the following year when he ran as a candidate in the provincial election and collected 33 percent of the vote finishing second to long time MPP Bill Murdoch. Jolley went on to become Co-Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Ontario- a position he stepped down from earlier this year.
