Eert representing Green Party of Canada

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This article was published 15/10/2019 (2475 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Beverley Eert has been a Green Party of Canada member since 1987, and first represented the party in an election in 1988.

She’s running in Portage-Lisgar — her second campaign in the riding — and feels more confident than ever.

“My position hasn’t changed,” said Eert. “We’ve been trying to wake people up for decades now.”

The 68-year-old lives with her husband in a house that they designed and constructed near Treherne that’s self-sufficient in terms of being powered and heated by the sun and protected by the earth, as its built into the side of a hill. She drives an electric vehicle while campaigning.
Eert has degrees in music and fine arts from the University of Manitoba, and a mid-life degree in architecture from the University of British Columbia. She previously owned and operated a private music studio, and later a design-build company producing energy-efficient timber-framed homes.

Eert said while the other national political party leaders are now speaking about climate change and environmental issues, they lack the vision of the Green Party.

She said she’s heard students at candidates’ forums within the riding express concern about climate change.

“I think what the Greens are offering is something very different. The Green Party wants us to become more locally sustainable.”

Eert said the Green Party supports reducing the amount of food that Canada imports by one-third and handing back production and processing to Canadian farmers and agri-businesses.

She cites the Roquette pea processing plant under construction near Portage la Prairie as being the type of project that uses locally grown crops in an environmentally sustainable way.

“We need to work on food security in this country.”

She would also like to see federal funding to Canadian municipalities delivered in a different manner than the gas tax rebates that are now distributed. The amount given would be doubled along with one per cent of GST being directed to municipal infrastructure projects.