Candidate Event Story

Oct 15, 2007
Marc Perez- Abergel
BRANTFORD, Ont- Ted Shelegy, the Green Party of Ontario candidate for the riding of Brant has decided to hold his election night event at World Vegas Lounge on Dalhousie Street, a few doors down from his campaign office. The atmosphere inside the lounge is somber as jazz music plays gently in the background. Shelegy is wearing a brown suit, brown tie, and white dress shirt as he sits down at a corner table and speaks with first year Laurier Brantford journalism students.
Tonight he is fielding questions about the environment, education, and health care. Shelegy discusses the reasons why the Green Party is against the construction of Highway 24 and what he thinks of Liberal candidate Dave Levac's choice to support the highway.
Most patrons eyes are focused on the television set hanging over the bar and playing election coverage as the tallies for Brant scroll across the bottom of the screen. As is common knowledge by now, Dave Levac has won the Brant riding.

One of the Green Party's main objectives is environmental preservation. Shelegy has been farming for just over four decades and since 1993 has grown organic crops. Highway 24 would run through prime farmland and other environmentally endangered areas. " The highway will be taking cultural land out of the community by cutting farmland, highways lead to new subdivision", Shelegy says. The Green Party wants to preserve agricultural land in an effort to support local produce production.

The Liberals support and Levac is in favour of the new Highway 24 because of its importance to local economy. According to Shelegy there are not many ways that the new highway will have economic benefits without having to run through natural farmland.
Shelegy wants the economy to re plan in such a way where people can live in a walkable community and be able to walk to work. " If we look at the past it [Highway 24] will benefit the economy somehow, but farmers will suffer", says Shelegy. The Green party is working towards having 75 percent of all money for new roads go towards public transit by 2012.

In the eyes of Shelegy, environmental sustainability is of the utmost importance. According to him the environment sustains us a people and it is our responsibility to protect it. By having the highway run through prime agricultural farmland, Ontario's green spaces will only begin to decrease in number.
The Green Party does not want this to happen, instead Shelegy, would like to see Ontario work towards a new goal, one which benefits the environment, improves education by looking at reducing student debt and places higher taxes on things which are bad for the environment such as pollution caused by manufacturing industries.