A man from the Richer area is running as the Green Party candidate in Dawson Trail in the October 3rd provincial election. 

Marcel Broesky does IT work for The North West Company. He considers himself a proud Canadian and says it was a few years ago that he began his journey towards living a green life. Today, the man in his mid-40s lives in a high-tech off-the-grid home. 

"The process has given me a real appreciation for how a person's reliance on the grid makes them forget the three R's that we learned in school - reduce, reuse, recycle," says Broesky. "I think most of us recycle these days but reduce is really the key to the three R's, we've just forgotten."

Broesky points back to the last provincial election as the time that he first started thinking about running for politics. 

"I was kind of disappointed heading towards the polls," recalls Broesky.

He says he did not align with any of the parties.

"It felt like an exercise in futility for me to go and cast a vote for somebody that I didn't really align with," he says. 

Broesky decided to reach out to the Green Party to find out if there were any candidates in his constituency. Finding out there were none, but realizing it was probably too late to register as a candidate, Broesky decided to wait until the next provincial election. Which brings us to where we are today. 

Broesky admits he does not have any prior political experience, but that is not stopping him from giving Green Party supporters the chance to vote for someone they align with, on election day.

If elected, Broesky says one of his priorities will be to push for a feasibility study into rural rapid transit. He notes there are so many residents from southern Manitoba that are driving into Winnipeg daily to work. He notes there is a lot of carpooling that he knows happens, but feels there is a real missed opportunity there, considering the rising cost of fuel and carbon taxes. 

"I'd love to see a feasibility study on it," says Broesky. "I think Steinbach's a great candidate."

Meanwhile, Broesky says that with Dawson Trail now having a Green Party candidate, this is a great start towards Manitoba someday getting its first-ever Green MLA. He says having a seat at the "big table" is not going to come overnight but has to start somewhere. 

"I'm not oblivious to what's going on in the area," he says. "Solar panels are popping up more and more, people are looking for alternative solutions to today's problems."

 

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