Claudia Rodriguez-Larrain is the Green Party candidate for the federal electoral district of Vaughan in the province of Ontario. The riding is currently occupied by Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Julian Fantino, who obtained 49% of the total vote in the 2010 by-election, only 1000 votes ahead of Liberal candidate Tony Genco. This is not the first time Claudia runs for office. She was the New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate for the riding of York Centre in the last provincial election (2007), and the candidate for the Green Party in Vaughan during the 2010 federal by-election, ultimately won by conservative candidate Julian Fantino.
Claudia Rodriguez-Larrain is a natural born political activist and community leader. Her desire to empower citizens and communities is the driving force behind her social and political involvement. In the last few years, for example, she has founded two not-for-profit organizations, the
Regenesis Project and Regenesis International. The mission of these organizations is to facilitate and provide ongoing technical support to social justice and humanitarian initiatives. Claudia has also acted as a poverty law advocate for a number of local community organizations in the last six years, helping people with limited monetary resources in their legal representation for housing and disability claims. She is the current President for the Green Party in Vaughan.
Green Party Policies and Values
Claudia insists that the Green Party is a not "a one-issue party." She is also quite disappointed about the fact that the Media Consortium (CBC, CTV, Radio-Canada, and TVA) decided to leave Elizabeth May out of the leaders' debates: "Disallowing Elizabeth May's participation in the televised debates is a hijack on our country's commitment to democratic principles and values. The tyranny of the media elite must cease. Ms. May brings in a wealth of perspectives not readily shared by the other parties." According to her, the Consortium's decision is just another sign of the hostility and undemocratic behaviour that mainstream media typically displays against grassroots movements.
Her contribution to the Green Party of Canada revolves around two policy issues. So far, she has written a statement on
the ban on fluoridation products from public drinking water, but she has also proposed a motion supporting an expanded role of the
Bank of Canada in the regulation of credit at the national level. Claudia explains that reinstating the Bank of Canada to a prominent position in the creation of currency and credit regulation would reduce the federal government's dependence in private loans and ensure that the funding of current social programs is not affected by short-term debt payment obligations. These motions were supported by party members during the 2010 Green Party national convention.
Green Party Platform: Reconciling Economic Growth with Sustainable Practices
Green Party policies are generally built around
six core values: ecological wisdom, non-violence, social justice, sustainability, participatory democracy, and respect for diversity. It seeks to reconcile economic growth with sustainable environmental policies. For example, it proposes a transformation of old-industry blue collar jobs into new industry green-collar jobs. A smart economy, the party platform says, is about focusing on value-added production and generating green products that will be in demand in tomorrow's markets. Too bad that the Green Party did not have the opportunity to further elaborate on these proposals during the current electoral campaign. Hopefully there will be more space for them in-between the elections so that Canadians get to know the number of forward-looking policies that the party defends.
