Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner poses for photos on the sidewalk in front of his home in Guelph, Ont. after becoming the first Green MPP electred to Queens Park the day before, on Friday, June 8, 2018. (J.P. Moczulski/The Globe and Mail)J.P. MOCZULSKI/The Globe and Mail
When Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner bumped into Premier Doug Ford in the basement of Queen’s Park a few months ago, he saw it as an opportunity to make a pitch.
He proposed a plan to develop an electric-vehicle strategy, a project he thought he and Mr. Ford could work on together.
“We know that’s where the world is going, and given Ontario’s position in the auto sector, I want us to lead that revolution, not lose jobs to it,” Mr. Schreiner said during a recent lunch-hour interview in his Queen’s Park office.
“I thought maybe the Premier would take me up on that one – but he didn’t, unfortunately.”
Such is life as the province’s lone Green MPP in Mr. Ford’s Ontario. With few opportunities to ask questions and limited speaking time in the legislature, Mr. Schreiner has to come up with creative ways to have his voice heard.
But as the Green Party’s presence across Canada grows, he hopes his voice will also get louder at Queen’s Park.
This week, a second Green MP was elected to Ottawa in a British Columbia by-election, joining long-time federal leader Elizabeth May. Provincially, the Greens now make up the Official Opposition in Prince Edward Island, have three seats in New Brunswick and hold the balance of power in the B.C. Legislature.
“As our politics becomes increasingly polarized, I think people are wanting a new way of doing politics that’s more co-operative and collaborative and less confrontational,” said Mr. Schreiner, 49, who represents the riding of Guelph as the Green Party of Ontario’s first-ever MPP.
Known at Queen’s Park as a clear and succinct communicator, Mr. Schreiner, a former small-business owner, tries to counter the image that Greens are “all a bunch of environmental radicals.” He likes to be a bit flashier, too, recently revealing a spoof of the Progressive Conservative government’s anti-carbon tax stickers for gas pumps – his version warning of the financial costs of inaction on climate change.
“It is just categorically wrong that a carbon tax is job-killing and hurts the economy,” he said.
Since forming government, the PCs have made sweeping changes to environmental policies in the name of fiscal responsibility, including killing the cap-and-trade program, cancelling more than 750 renewable energy contracts and cutting funding to conservation authorities for flood management programs in half.
Environment Minister Rod Phillips, who has met several times with Mr. Schreiner, says the Green Party Leader has well-thought-out positions, but only approaches issues from one perspective. He said a Green proposal to get rid of nuclear power, for instance, would eliminate 50 per cent of the province’s power generation, and “we have to be more responsible than that."
“Like a lot of environmental activists, the Leader of the Green Party sees things only through the lens of environmental protections,” Mr. Phillips told The Globe and Mail. “I’m interested in making sure we have the best protections but that we also balance a healthy economy and healthy environment.”
While the environment is his main preoccupation, with a goal to power the province with 100-per-cent renewable energy, Mr. Schreiner says his party’s interests span the gamut of progressive policies, from universal basic income to innovative housing strategies.
Mr. Schreiner hails from Kansas – where he used to practise political speeches during tractor rides – and came to Ontario 25 years ago for love. He calls himself an entrepreneur and ran an organic food store and production business in Guelph before becoming party leader a decade ago.
He has been a harsh critic of cash-for-access fundraisers, which he believes undermine democracy.
As one of the 11 MPPs in Ontario without official party status (which includes seven Liberals and three former PC MPPs), he believes in a more collaborative style of politics. He recalls a day in the legislature last fall when he voted in support of bills from all three parties – including the government’s plan to privatize cannabis sales. “I’m not going to vote against something just because another party brought it forward,” he said.
With the legislature growing more toxic during Question Period, Mr. Schreiner would like to see the Official Opposition take a more thoughtful approach. “I think the NDP would be a more effective opposition if there were less insults and more substance,” he said.
Under his leadership, the Ontario Greens have seen a 130-per-cent growth in membership over the past two years and now have more than 4,800 members. Mr. Schreiner said he expects the party to make gains in the next election, but also stresses the need to be realistic about how resources are deployed.
“What’s holding people back from voting Green is mostly their fear that it’s a wasted vote,” he said.
“What we found in Guelph was once people realized I had a very good chance of winning, the floodgates opened.”