The BC Green Party candidate for Abbotsford-Mission isn’t what most would expect someone from that organization to be like.
Aird Flavelle calls himself a conservative.
“I’ve always voted conservative,” said the Abbotsford resident.
But after he retweeted a post from the Green Party on the popular social media channel, Twitter, he eventually found himself having a face-to-face meeting with party leader Jane Sterk.
“She asked me to take a look at the core principles” of the party, and I thought they made sense, he shared.
The party believes in participatory democracy, sustainability, social justice, respect for diversity, ecological wisdom and non-violence.
There are a number of matters of concern for the long-time business owner.
Flavelle said the prospect of a garbage incinerator being constructed somewhere in the region and its output’s affect on the environment scared him, but several other issues have prompted him to run for office.
“I hate clear-cut logging with a passion. I don’t believe we’re doing it correctly,” he said of current forest practices, adding that the province should not be shipping raw logs offshore.
Flavelle has run unsuccessfully in the last two Abbotsford municipal elections, and says local governments need more support.
“We must empower [municipal governments] because that’s where the people are,” he said. More responsibility should be shifted to the local level, but the appropriate amount of funding should follow.
Flavelle has been a member of Abbotsford Rotary for several years, and also volunteers with the local hospice society, restorative justice, and Abbotsford’s environmental advisory committee.
He attended the University of Calgary where he studied Chinese and economics. When he arrived in Abbotsford, he started a newsletter which he produced for two years before being hired by a computer retailer. Flavelle eventually opened his own business, MSA Computers, 21 years ago.
For more information, Flavelle can be contacted at 604-855-4221, via e-mail at aird.flavelle@greenparty.bc.ca, and through Facebook and Twitter.
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