ROBERT JOHNSTON
GREEN PARTY OF CANADA
Age: 51
Occupation: Prairies organizer with the Green Party of Canada
Residence: Calgary
Family: Single with no children
Calgary resident Robert Johnson does not intend to be a paper candidate. He wants to see what he can do for the largely rural riding between Edmonton and Red Deer. A candidate does not need to be a registered elector or even reside in that riding to vie for a seat.
Johnston stepped into the Wetaskiwin race after Central Alberta resident Les Parsons withdrew due to unavoidable personal reasons shortly before the nomination deadline. “Now that I am a candidate, I have full intentions of communicating with the riding,” he said. “I feel as a Green Party candidate I am going to represent the party when I hear from the people in the community what their concerns are and move right on ahead some communication.”
Johnston said there’s a need to reinvigorate democracy and make it more accountable and transparent because it affects every other issue.
“As you know oil and energy are driving the economy right now in many ways,” said Johnston. “(The Conservative government) is doing very little to boost the healthy and the long-term and the well-paying jobs that come from green jobs (and) its renewable efficiency. We should be radically rejuvenating democracy at the same time boosting the Green economy because that liberates all sorts of funding for other things. If we had smart management of those two, it will spill over instantly to smarter management and more funding for things.”
Johnston said Canadians are concerned about health care, education, retirement, income and many other issues.
“It’s all part of the same package of what’s the style of management,” said Johnston. “And the style of management is a nightmare right now.”
Johnston said there needs to be more transparency, inclusion and accountability in the government.
“We need to make the whole process of deciding what the bills are and the financing and all these aspects are being taken care of,” he said. “The bills are transparent and inclusive and accountable. And those three things is what the public wants across the nation. And they are getting the opposite from our government. Proportional representation is a process that radically opens that up.”
Johnston added the government needs to open up to renewable and sustainable thinking about energy efficiency.