Green Party, Pontiac
Claude Bertrand
Why are you running?
Prior to the 2015 elections, Justin Trudeau had promised that we were going to have our last election under the defective FPTP (First Past The Post) electoral system. For me, that was going to be a game changer and I thought for a moment that Trudeau, the son, was going to make his mark on Canadian history.
I thought he was putting country and democracy before the interest of his party and that he deserved my vote. When he turned back on his promise, I felt cheated by a cynical trickster. I felt I had been duped, used and it made me angry.
That was the moment I decided to get involved and run for office. I waited until 2018 to contact the Green Party and to make it know that I would be seeking the candidacy in the Pontiac in the 2019 elections.
The Climate Emergency is real and the vast majority of climate scientists agree that we humans have caused it. As a retired grandfather, I could not stand by. I had to run for office and effect changes at the national level.
What is your day job?
I’ve been retired since March 2016 and I have since been busy renovating my cottage/home and being the best grandfather I can be to my wonderful 21-month-old granddaughter.
During my first professional career, I worked as an engineer in the private sector, and then in the public service for ten years in Ottawa. I then changed career entirely and became a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force where I flew jets and turboprops.
What are your passions in work and life? (Volunteerism, sport, art, etc.)
I enjoy the outdoors; cycling, kayaking, hiking. I’ve also developed a keen and growing interest for astronomy and photography. Music is also great and on occasion I enjoy continuing to learn the piano.
What would your short-term and long-term priorities be should you be elected.
My first immediate priorities would be to push for an immediate stop to Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ project to build an Above Ground Low Intensity Nuclear Waste Storage Dump, to which they assigned the sanitized Near Surface Disposal Facility designation, at 1 km from the Ottawa River.
My second immediate priority is to push for a moratorium on construction and an end to any further parcelling of Gatineau Park.
Once that is done, I would form a Pontiac Economic Task Force composed of federal, provincial and municipal elected officials as well as industry and business leaders to examine how we must proceed to kickstart the depressed economy in the Pontiac. The matter is complex and federal and provincial funds will have to be injected in order to encourage business and industrial revival in the Pontiac.
