Jail house candidate runs 'grass' roots campaign

Michel Ethier wants to be the next mayor of West Nipissing, but his incarceration may make it a tad difficult for him to campaign.

Ethier, a reverend with the Assembly of the Church of the Universe, has been charged with drug trafficking and money laundering, and is in North Bay Jail awaiting his court proceedings and trying to seek bail.

He had filed his nomination papers in January, several months before being arrested.

Though Ethier has previous drug convictions, there’s nothing in the Ontario Municipal Elections Act that prevents him from running.

"He wasn't serving a sentence when he filed his papers and he isn't serving a sentence now, so he's eligible," said West Nipissing Chief Adminstrative Officer Jay Barbeau.

Grow high-grade marijuana here

Church of the Universe members are required to use marijuana as a sacrament in their lives and worship. It is required “in their search for an understanding of their spirituality and connection with Almighty God,” the church’s Web site states.

They are also required to provide “medicinal sacrament” to the sick.

That requirement forms one of Ethier’s campaign planks.

“Marijuana is now acceptable for medical use and people have got to get the stuff from somewhere, and it’s got to be of good quality,” Ethier told baytoday.ca in the visitor area of the jail.

“The stuff the federal government grew in Flin Flon is of inferior quality, and we have umpteen hectares of unused farm land in our community, so why couldn’t we grow very high grade marijuana here?”

Should not be a crime

Ethier proposes to have the marijuana fields protected by security guards “with Rottweillers” and monitored with security cameras.

“And if people get caught stealing then they would be charged,” Ethier said.

“That should be a crime, not growing a herb that is beneficial to man.”

But Ethier is not just a one-joint pony.
He also wants to see a recycling and hazardous waste depot built in the municipality and alternate forms of energy such as solar and wind power implemented.

Embarrassing and humiliating

“I want to be mayor because I’d be playing cards at the same level as the big boys in the municipal or federal governments, and should I be elected we would all work together to help each other out,” Ethier said.

But outgoing West Nipissing mayor Gary O’Connor would rather Ethier folded his hand.

“What he’s doing is embarrassing and humiliating for the municipality,” O’Connor said, "and even more so because the cause he is promoting is to turn West Nipissing and the entire nation potty.”

Four other candidates are running for mayor: deputy mayor Joanne Savage, Marcel Prieur, Marlene Bertrand, and Wayne Lebelle.