Bolton woman seeks local Green nomination
By ALAN LICZYK Staff Reporter

Patti Foley

A strong belief in the Green party's key values has prompted a Bolton woman to seek the party's Dufferin- Caledon nomination for this fall's provincial election.

Patti Foley, 52, has resided in Bolton for 16 years and currently works for CharityVillage.com, a Web site that provides resources for the non-profit sector. It's the largest and oldest Web site for the nonprofit sector in Canada. She's represented Peel, Halton, York and Durham for five years.

About two and a half years ago she started a networking group, called the Non-profit Networking Club, made up of local nonprofit groups to discuss issues important to them. They have 21 members now and meet monthly, except July and August, every second Wednesday morning at the Bolton library.

Foley has also worked for the last three years as a freelance photographerreporter with the Caledon Enterprise.

She's been married to husband Len for 16 years. She has two sons: Jason, 33, and Michael, 13. Jason is married to Jacquie and they have a daughter Julia, 2.

The nomination meeting for the Green party in Dufferin-Caledon is Saturday, June 23 at 2 p.m. at the Caledon Community Complex in Caledon East.

This is Foley's first time running for a political position.

"I'm more than a little disillusioned by the inertia of our current political leaders with respect to the environmental big picture," she explained. "Now that an election is approaching a lot of people are talking the talk but not walking the walk."

She thinks a passion for the environment is a requirement as is the ability to listen to people.

She added they need to reduce the dependency on automobiles and stop designing communities for cars.

"We work one to two days a week for our vehicles," she said. "There's something wrong with that picture."

Foley has been voting Green for many years. After listening to Green party national Leader Elizabeth May in Orangeville in February she was motivated to take it to the next level.

"I feel very strongly about their key values," she said.

The green party's 10 key values include sustainability, social justice, grassroots democracy, non-violence, decentralization, community-based economics, gender equality, diversity, personal and global responsibility, and ecological wisdom.

Foley said some issues important to Dufferin- Caledon include sustainable growth, water issues, the aggregate industry and keeping the family farm viable in order to maximize local food production.

She strongly advocates the proportional representation system. In May, Ontario's first Citizens' Assembly submitted a report to government recommending the province switch to a proportional representation voting system known as Mixed Member Proportional. The assembly, made up of 103 randomly chosen Ontario citizens, one from each electoral district, spent months learning, consulting and deliberating before bringing their decision forward. As a result, there will be a referendum with the Oct. 10 provincial election to decide if Ontario voters wish to adopt the system.

"It's a very democratic system that gives voters strong local representation while making sure that parties win seats in proportion to their overall voter support," Foley said.

More about the system and how the assembly came to its recommendation can be found at www.citizensassembly.gov.o n.ca and www.fairvotecanada.org.

Anyone wishing to cast a vote for the Dufferin- Caledon nomination must register with the Green party by Friday, June 8. This can be done online at www.gpo.ca. Click on where it says Join/Donate.

Foley believes she can make a big difference.

"When an MPP goes to Queen's Park hopefully they don't go alone," she said. "They go carrying the concerns and opinions of the people in their riding. And most important, they act in their best interests while they are there. I will be taking Green party values into the legislature, a place where, from my perspective, they're needed."

Anyone wishing to voice their concerns, can contact Patti Foley at 905-951-0625 or patti@pattifoley.com.