Sudbury’s federal Green party candidate opened his virtual campaign office on Thursday night, with a handful of environmental stewards joining in for the Zoom-based online event.
“It’s exactly what you do in a pandemic when this technology develops,” candidate David Robinson said prior to the event. “With such a short campaign, who wants to spend a week to find an office downtown, spend a bunch of money on it and most of your time setting it up and another five days taking it apart?”
The virtual office will be open to the public via the Zoom video conferencing platform four times a week until the federal election on Sept. 20, including Mondays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 6:30 to 8 p.m., during which Robinson will be available to chat with people.
Despite hosting a virtual campaign, Robinson said he has been surprised by the response so far.
“It’s a cheap, cheap campaign when you don’t have to rent an office or a phone, but I’ve still got more donations than we can spend at the moment,” he said.
“The truth is, the response is really encouraging … There are a lot of people more nervous than they were a while ago.”
Climate change appears to be closer to the forefront of discussion in recent months, Robinson said, noting that recent wildfires and heat waves appear to have struck a chord.
The impacts of climate change, he said, have “come on much faster than we thought.”
Robinson’s campaign is unique in that he’s the only candidate in Sudbury to admit he is not going to win the election — a point he made during Tuesday night’s online debate hosted by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.
At the time, he reasoned that a vote for the Greens in a swing riding such as Sudbury would send a message to the leading federal parties that they should adopt more green policies.
During a phone conversation with Sudbury.com on Thursday prior to his virtual office opening, he expanded on that idea by asserting that no candidate who wants to win is able to tell the truth about climate change.
The fossil fuel industry “has to die,” he said — a point that’s likely to anger enough people to prevent anyone affirming as much from reaching public office.
“We are on a course that will kill perhaps several billion people and could be worse than that,” he said. “It could be better … but the truth is, that’s the path we’re on — that’s what the science says.”
This dire prediction was highlighted during the evening’s virtual office opening, best highlighted by the comments of Sudbury-based author André Clement.
In summarizing the thesis from his book “Evolution to Extinction: A Primer on Global Warming,” Clement said there are a number of tipping points in climate change — the moments at which irreversible damage will have been done.
Some of these tipping points, Robinson later said, have already been passed, be it a bay that won’t have fish anymore or a region whose tree population will change, with increasingly dire tipping points to come.
“We’re all in this whether we like it or not,” Clement said. “Our species is running out of time.”
Green candidate for Pontiac Shaughn McArthur, who also serves as shadow critic for International Affairs and Defence, used his speaking time to congratulate Robinson on his campaign and encourage others to support the cause.
“We are never going to get the type of action we need on the big challenges we are all facing unless we have a greater plurality of voices in the House of Commons,” he said, adding the establishment parties are all wrapped up in fossil fuels.
“The only strategic vote in 2021 is a vote for your conscience, a vote for accountability of the big parties. … We are one big family, one big movement, and we will go further together.”
The virtual office opening was sparsely attended, with only a few non-speakers signing in to take it in. Robinson took this as a good sign, in that people are busy, adding that it was a constructive discussion regardless of attendance numbers.
Robinson’s virtual office is available online by clicking here. His website can be accessed by clicking here, his Facebook page is here and his Twitter handle is @drobinsonATlu.
Also running in the Sudbury federal riding is Liberal Viviane Lapointe, New Democrat Nadia Verrelli, Conservative Ian Symington, People’s Party candidate Colette Methé. Independent candidate John David Popescu, who was convicted of hate speech, is also running.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
