The Green Party of Canada is pleased to announce our Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke candidate for the 2021 federal election.
Michael LaRiviere is a retired transport pilot living near Cobden. He was raised and schooled in Petawawa. After earning his pilot’s license he embarked on a 37 year flying career. Starting as a bush plane pilot, he was sent to many remote communities and first nations in Canada delivering needed supplies and evacuating sick patients to hospitals for care. He graduated to larger transport aircraft and logged over 20,000 flight hours bringing goods and services to every corner of the globe. He once worked in leper colony in Sudan. Well trained and level headed, he never had an accident related to flying.
As a young pilot he flew over Greenland and saw a glacier two kilometers thick covering the land. On his last trip over Greenland he saw nothing but black rock. Billions of tonnes of ice that had been there for over 10,000 years was gone. He knew then that the climate was drastically changing.
In retirement he and his wife have returned to the Ottawa Valley. Together they literally built a home. Every block, board, and shingle was placed by them. Michael became interested in the environmental movement and social justice issues. After travelling for so many years as a pilot he could not ignore the drastic changes to the earth’s weather systems. He was also convinced that the people of Canada could benefit from a sound government that cared about employment and worker training, local industry like farming and forestry, and affordable housing. He felt that the Green Party could help Canadians achieve those goals. He is a keen promoter of participatory democracy.
Michael has no doubt that a climate crisis is upon us. The British Columbia town of Lytton burned to the ground in this summer’s wildfire, but our Conservative MP says that the climate emergency is undefined. The hottest temperatures on record killed 700 Canadians this summer. These victims would not agree that the emergency is undefined. Neither would the hundreds of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke residents who had their homes and cottages damaged by flooding in 2019.
When he finally decided to place his name on the ballot, Michael LaRiviere chose the Green Party of Canada as the one that offers the most hope for the future. He will work for this district to address the issues that are most troubling to its people.
Epps,J.,Green Party(2021,Aug.30)Michael LaRiviere – Green Party of Canada candidate2021 Federal Election [media release]
