Much of what I am comes from my parents. My mother was a hard working prairie farm girl who married a soldier and raised four children while moving from city to city, Canada to Europe to Canada. She was often alone for months at a time while her husband was on maneuvers hundreds or even thousands of miles away. My father lived in London during “the Blitz”, fought his war in the convoys, and chose to settle in Canada after the fighting stopped. I like to believe that my parents’ hard work, fortitude and resilience has found some expression in me.

My family’s last ‘posting’ was in Calgary where I graduated with a BA in Economics (Natural Resources and Econometrics) and a BEd (Social Studies and Biochemistry).

I was born in Montreal and lived in Germany, Quebec City, Calgary, Vancouver, Kelowna, Revelstoke and Ottawa. I dug ditches, picked apples, worked as a deck hand, taught high school in three provinces and was a technical analyst in the Petroleum and the Hydro-electric industries.

And then I fell in love with Vancouver Island! I dropped everything (except my sweetheart) and moved to the Victoria area, where I found employment at BC Systems Corporation as a programmer/analyst. Before moving to Comox a few years ago, I chaired the Juan de Fuca Economic Development Commission, co-chaired my community land use committee and was president of my community association.

Whether leading small groups on the West Coast Trail, or curling for British Columbia at national competitions, my focus has been upon building team relationships through honest communication and by sharing the challenges, risks and rewards together. I love the complexity and mystery of teams.

I joined the Green Party because Global Warming is an existential threat to everything that I have done or ever wanted to do for my community. There was a time when it was possible to “do” Green things and help your community on one hand, yet vote for a party that appealed to other aspects of what one wanted or believed in with the other. Those times are past.

Polling numbers show that most Canadians believe in Global Warming and understand the basic science behind it. We are entering a new phase where sound economic policy and political leadership are vital to all of us. We have made some good progress, but many of the economic policies required to transition to a low carbon economy are very contentious.

No single person, party or nationality has a monopoly on the truth. The Green challenge is to coax our neighbours and our local businesses to come together, to listen, share our hopes and fears, and to combine our talents and ideas to preserve and protect our communities from the Storm that is massing on the horizon.