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Green Party candidate wants to rally youth vote
St. Martin understands the struggles of students wanting to further their education and training. He is studying at Montréal’s McGill University, doing a major degree in anthropology and two minors in political science and the social study of medicine. Fi- nished for the summer season and ready to campaign, he notes that entering into the political arena was not on his agenda when the past term began. “I’ve always been passionate about poli- tics,” he said, “but I’ve always considered myself impartial too.” St. Martin’s efforts to remain unpartisan ended after reviewing the Green Party plat- form. He thinks it has a better economic strategy than the Progressive Conservatives and an overall better position on environ- mental issues in general compared to On- tario’s other political groups. He signed up and also put his name in as the candidate nominee for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell. While a newcomer to the provincial arena, he believes he has a chance to make an im- pression at the polls.
him a candidate young voters can relate to, identify with, and maybe encourage them to be more politically involved too. “I would hope I could light that flame,” he said, “to get students involved.” Living close to the Delorme potato pro- cessing plant in Curran, St. Martin identifies with local farmers’ concerns about getting more of a market share for their produce. He also noted how small dépanneurs and other local grocery outlets in outlying vil- lages and hamlets are closing down, forcing more residents to have to drive to larger urban areas and shop at Big Box grocery chains. Those franchise outlets, St. Martin said, do not have a commitment to provi- ding shelf space for local produce. To help local agribusiness, St. Martin would like a program that helps promote creation of local farmers markets. He would like to see a more solid provincial govern- ment commitment to funding support for Alfred College for the benefit of local students who want to follow agriculture as a career.
GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
CURRAN | The Green Party candidate for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell is after the youth vote in the riding and he’s already made a campaign promise that his rivals may find hard to beat. If elected, Raymond St. Martin has pledged to turn over half of his MPP salary to the community of Glengarry-Prescott- Russell. What he would like to see that money used for, assuming he wins the June election ballot for the riding, is a scholarship fund to help more high school students from Glengarry-Prescott-Schools go on to either college or university. “Fifty per cent of that (MPP) salary is more than enough for me,” said the 22-year-old Curran resident during a phone interview May 5. The current average salary for Ontario MPPs is capped at $116,500 a year. MPP salaries have remained frozen for the past five years. The usual practice is for MPP sala- ries to be 75 per cent of what a sitting MP makes. Right now the average federal MP gets a base pay of $160,200, which includes a 1.6-per cent increase for the 2013-2014 fiscal period. MPPs would need a six-per cent increase in their base pay to still meet the old 75-per cent ratio with their federal counterparts.
“It really comes down to who’s going to be the best person to represent the com- munity,” he said. St. Martin hopes to galvanize the youth vote in the riding because his age makes
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