Candidates for the provincial Green Party are rolling out some of their key concerns going into this September’s provincial election.
Gagetown-Petitcodiac candidate Marilyn Merritt-Gray says one reason she is running is because of the current government privatizing the management of the Extra-Mural Program under Medavie, which she described as ‘striking and terrifying.’
“There has not been planning and intentional smart decision making along the past several decades,” says Merritt-Gray. “We need a Green government, asking the questions like [Green Party NB Leader] David has been doing, getting more transparency.”
Merritt-Gray says people are continually telling her they feel as if they don’t have any input in government decisions.
“They feel like nobody is paying any attention to them, and when they pay attention to them, they dismiss them, it’s like the rural community is not worthy of investing in any longer,” says Merritt-Gray. “With that expectation that move to the city, that’s the solution.”
Merritt-Gray was given a round of enthusiastic applause when she said all of New Brunswick is rural, and community based rural solutions are needed.
Albert riding candidate Moranda van Geest posed a series of questions to attendees, saying the public must hold firm in their belief in change.
“Do you feel governments are taking the future of the next generation in consideration when providing large corporations with licences to pollute? Do you feel you are being treated as a consumer, rather than a person?”
When van Geest said the next government must stop the flow of tax dollars to tax havens, she was greeted with one of the loudest rounds of applause of the day.
