Stairs wants riding to go Green

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This article was published 14/08/2015 (3944 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steven Stairs brings a youthful energy to his campaign for member of parliament for Kildonan-St. Paul.

The 31-year-old Green Party candidate, who has been a resident of the riding all his life, said he was inspired in 2011 to get political because he felt his interests were not being represented well by long-serving MP Joy Smith.

“I decided that if she wasn’t going to represent me, I was going to represent this area better,” he said.

In 2011 Stairs, a medical marijuana user and advocate, got the ground work going for a Marijuana Party electoral district in Kildonan-St. Paul. However, he said he quickly became disenchanted with the party’s lack of policy beyond the legalization of marijuana. So, as a student at the University of Manitoba, he switched his focus to student politics. From 2012 through 2014 Stairs, who is legally blind, sat as the students with disabilities representative on the University of Manitoba Students’ Union.

“That was really where I got involved with the idea that I can represent a group of people,” Stairs said. “They can tell me what they want, and I can be the voice for that and affect change.”

With Smith announcing that she would not seek re-election in this year’s federal election, Stairs feels as though the race for Kildonan-St. Paul is wide open.

“There’s an opportunity for someone like me to get out there,” he said. “Without an incumbent, I think people are going to feel much more free to vote the way they feel will actually make change.”

Stairs believes that while the Green Party might not have the name recognition or the historic support that the other three national parties enjoy, the Greens offer policies that should appeal to a broad demographic of voters.

“There are a lot of Green thinkers out there,” Stairs said. “People think that the Greens are only about saving the environment. Well, yes! But there’s so much more.”

While the federal Liberals and NDP are both campaigning for change, Stairs feels neither party represents the most vulnerable in society.

“Justin Trudeau tries to talk about how the middle-class is left out,” Stairs said. “The middle-class is struggling, sure. But the middle-class have homes. What about the people who can’t afford rent every month, in this riding specifically? They never get a say. They get left out. The Green Party, with a guaranteed basic income, would help solve so many of our problems.”

For Stairs, two main Green Party policies he feels strongly about are the guaranteed basic income, and the carbon fee and dividend system.

Stairs admits that the carbon fee and dividend system is a harder sell to consumers, but believes that it offers the best market driven solution to dealing with climate change.

“Sure, some things will cost more. But that will bring in better spending and manufacturing habits,” he said. “This is not just a short-term cash grab. It’s a long-term, sustainable strategy to make sure that Canada is here the way it is today in 50  years.”

Stairs is also on board with a national child-care strategy, though he admits that the issue is at the forefront of almost every other party, as well.

“No matter who you vote for, unless it’s Conservative, you’re going to get a better child care strategy,” Stairs “You’ll see the Green Party supporting those kinds of policies. It’s something that needs to be done.”

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