The federal Green Party has joined the local election race with the nomination of Alex Gomm at a rally in North Bay last night.
That brings to five the number of candidates running in Nipissing-Temiskaming.
Gomm was born and raised in North Bay and told Country600 CKAT that North Bay can set the standard for change.
"There is a lot of potential here," said Gomm. "We need to stand together for positive change so this community can actually come together and be a model for green change for doing things differently. I hope people recognize how wonderful it is and how blessed they are to live in this place and we have a right to thrive and have a healthy place where we can grow older together."
Gomm says the stakes are enormous.
“All reliable science indicates that we are at the turning point. And if we as a species do not care about our survival we have a very short time frame to change,” he says.
Gomm says getting more affordable housing for North Bay is a priority for him.
“This past summer has been the worst in North Bay’s history. We have an addiction crisis and the social and economic costs are staggering. The models that we have in place for addiction treatment aren’t working,” he says.
Gomm says the party is also proposing a guaranteed income plan for employees industries impacted by advanced technology.
"In this age of increasing automation where many many jobs are being replaced by robots or A.I. (artificial intelligence), this is of grave concern to this community."
Gomm, who was born and raised in North Bay, recently returned home after spending nine years teaching in Asia. He has a B.A. in the Geography of Regional Planning and International Development, and a Masters of Education degree from Nipissing University. He has extensive volunteer experience, both at home and abroad, teaching martial arts and helping youth make healthy lifestyle choices, as well as contributing to numerous environmental improvement projects ranging from North Bay to Nepal, and Kenya to Callander.
Gomm is running against Liberal incumbent Anthony Rota, Conservative candidate Jordy Carr, Rob Boulet representing the NDP and Mark King of the People's Party.
