Thomas Trappenberg at the candidates debate September 7, 2021. Photo Ed Halverson

The former leader of Nova Scotia’s Green party is calling it a career.

Thomas Trappenberg has stood for the Greens in both provincial and federal elections but has never won a seat.

“I was hoping for more impact by now, after 15 years and it’s still a long road ahead,” said Trappenberg.

The announcement to step away from politics comes as Trappenberg is currently running to represent South Shore-St. Margaret’s in the federal election.

He doesn’t plan to run again but a win in this campaign could change his mind.

“If I’m elected, of course I’m staying on and I will really work very hard to do this, yes, of course.”

Throughout his political career, Trappenberg has worked to push environmental issues to the forefront of public discourse.

He says he wants to be able to tell his grandchildren that he stood up for their future.

Despite his best efforts, he is concerned about the effect climate change is going to have on the world in which they grow up.

“It’s actually worse than you think. If we now do something really drastic, we will still have climate change,” said Trappenberg. “The question is how much we will have when we survive this.”

After spending the better part of a couple of decades building awareness of the Green party in Nova Scotia, Trappenberg remains optimistic that voters will see the the party as a viable option.

“I hope they will appreciate, and I think they do, I get this feedback, that we are serious, we are not just a protest movement. We are actually deeply thinking people, that we are really thinking about the future,” said Trappenberg.

Voters go the polls in the federal election Monday September 20.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Candidates (L-R) Rick Perkins, Bernadette Jordan, Thomas Trappenberg, Olivia Dorey. Photo Ed Halverson

The four candidates vying to represent South Shore-St.Margaret’s met Tuesday for what will likely be the only debate this campaign.

The event, organized by the Bridgewater Chamber of Commerce, was hosted at the Best Western in Cookville.

Candidates Olivia Dorey with the NDP, Liberal Bernadette Jordan, Conservative Rick Perkins and the Green party’s Thomas Trappenberg took turns answering five questions provided to them in advance by the chamber.

Questions focused on the housing crisis, healthcare, the environment, infrastructure and support for small and medium-sized businesses.

All candidates see a role for the federal government in increasing housing stock, providing more funding to provinces to address healthcare shortfalls, protecting the province’s coastline from sea-level rise and ensuring smaller businesses survive and thrive through the pandemic.

Naturally, how those aims are achieved vary widely along party lines.

The evening was a relatively tame affair punctuated by jabs between the PCs Perkins and Liberal Jordan.

Perkins took aim at Jordan and the Trudeau government’s record while Jordan poked holes in the Conservative platform.

The Greens’ Trappenberg took all parties to task and called for government to look for new ways of solving problems while the NDP’s Dorey highlighted the fact that at 27 years old, she was a generation younger than the other candidates and would be feeling the brunt of the decisions made by whomever is elected for much longer.

After the candidates were through the pre-arranged questions the moderator opened the floor to the public.

When asked when Canadians could expect to see a return to balanced budgets Perkins says the Conservatives have a plan to do so in ten years. Jordan said the priority for the country is getting through the COVID recovery not balancing the books. Trappenberg said now is the time to invest and Dorey cautioned people to temper their expectations, as there is no way to balance the books in the next ten years.

All candidates agreed more supports should be extended to veterans, especially those dealing with PTSD. They also agreed conversion therapy should be banned, more should be done to prevent gender-based violence and increasing immigration needs to be a priority to fill vacant jobs and grow the population.

The candidates reinforced their talking points in their closing arguments. Jordan stepped off-script to comment on the level of anger on display in this election, citing the rock throwing incidents and verbal assaults being lobbied at Justin Trudeau. She says she and her campaign workers have had similar experiences campaigning in this riding.

This was the only time all four candidates were scheduled to engage in a public forum together prior to the election.

Voters will go to the polls September 20.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.

Photo Elections Canada

The riding of South Shore- St. Margaret’s is one of the larger constituencies in the country.

Candidates do their best to reach voters but can’t always make it to all corners of the riding.

Each of the people vying to represent the region were given five minutes to explain who they are and their vision for South Shore-St. Margaret’s.

Click below to hear the audio from each candidate.

Olivia Dorey – NDP

Bernadette Jordan – Liberal

Rick Perkins – Conservative

Thomas Trappenberg – Green Party

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson