We’re excited to present our nomination contestants for the GPC candidacy here in Kanata—Carleton:

Andrew West

Andrew is a lawyer in Ottawa and the Attorney General Critic for the Green Party of Ontario. His law degree includes a specialization in Environmental Law with extensive training in resolving disputes.

Andrew attended law school after graduating with honours from the Politics and Governance program at Ryerson University. Before returning to school to begin his second career, Andrew experienced small business first hand. He started working at a young age for his family-owned construction business (a mobile crane service). Andrew then spent over 10 years in the television industry where he worked mostly as a sole proprietor/independent contractor.

Andrew spent much of 2008 volunteering for Amnesty International. He was a Committee Chair for an annual fundraiser entitled “Taste for Justice”. Andrew was responsible for much of the planning, marketing and implementation of the restaurant campaign which raised money to help stop violence against women. Under his leadership, “Taste for Justice” gained the most media coverage and raised the most donations in the campaign’s history. Andrew has also volunteered and raised money for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and WWF-Canada. He is currently studying to be bilingual.

You can learn more about Andrew here.

Jennifer Purdy

Dr. Jennifer Purdy is a family medicine physician who recently retired from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) after over 23 years in the Regular Force. She lives in Dunrobin, with her husband William Whelan, on a hobby farm. She currently provides medical care in Lifestyle Medicine (LM) in Kanata.

Jen grew up in Kanata, Ontario, attended Queen’s University for two years in Nursing Science, and then joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1994. She completed a Bachelor of Arts at the Royal Military College of Canada. She worked as a Health Care Administration Officer in Quebec, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, for six years, before starting medical school at the University of Ottawa, where she subsequently completed her residency in Family Medicine. She worked as a family physician in CAF in Trenton, Petawawa, and Ottawa before retiring in 2018.

Jen is running for the Green Party of Canada because of her deep concern for climate change and its impact on all Canadians. She has taken some actions on an individual level to minimize her environmental footprint, but she is inspired by the GPC to take the next step and aspires to work in Parliament to protect Canada and Canadians against the impacts of unchecked climate change.

Climate change is an emergency: we now have 11 years to make decisive changes in Canada to thwart the growing number of forest fires, floods, tornadoes, and other natural disasters that we are seeing with increasing frequency. While we act on climate change, the GPC has a strong policy platform that includes affordable child care; investing in green technologies; Guaranteed Livable Income for seniors; a new and welcome approach to addressing the opioid epidemic; and ending fossil fuel subsidies. Jen envisions a Canada where equality means all Canadians count.

You can learn more about Jen here.

Please join us at our nomination meeting to help choose our candidate for the next federal election.