The new Grande Prairie – Mackenzie riding has a Green Party candidate. Grovedale resident James Friesen will be running in this fall’s federal election. Friesen has experience working in politics, primarily with New Democrat parties. He says his father worked on Tommy Douglas’ first campaign in Saskatchewan, but argues their ideology has changed.
“I think that the NDP has simply become another Liberal Party; they don’t have a forward looking view on the environment. As a Green Party candidate, the environment is essential.”
Friesen says he wants to see a change in the world, which can be done with a more active democracy. That means Canadians having more of a say through more direct communication with their representatives.
“The Green Party is a people’s party. My campaigning now and in the future will be talking to people, meeting them on the street, holding meetings in their communities and their homes, talking to them, seeing what their ideas are.”
After moving from Saskatchewan around 1975, Friesen worked in the Grande Cache coal mine, and he and his wife now run Black-Top Cleaners in Grande Prairie. He’s already out door knocking.