Calvin Neufeld seeking Green Party nomination in LFK

Jeff Green | Jul 21, 2021

Even though he has no connection to the leadership of the Green Party, Calvin Neufeld was inadvertently caught up in the rift over leadership that the party is no trying to patch over in the runup to an expected federal election call.

He told reporter Desmond Devoy from the Perth Courier, which is owned by the same parent company as the Toronto Star, that he talked to Elizabeth May in June, as part of his process of deciding whether to seek the nomination or not.

“I knew Elizabeth May before she was Green Party leader,” said Neufeld, “so I called her for background about what I can expect if I end up being chosen as a candidate. It had nothing to do with the party, really. I called a lot of people for advice about whether to run, including Scott Reid, who I’ve worked with in the past.”

The timing of the phone call, in late June, coincided with a time frame when May claims to have been unavailable to consult with the party, a point that was taken up in an article in the Toronto Star about Party Leader Annamie Paul and the party executive.

“I think it is very sad that this is happening, and the fact that it is happening to the first black woman ever to lead a major party are not good. My personal perspective is that this really isn’t the time, when an election is coming up, to do this. More power to her for sticking it out and remaining as the leader instead of walking away,” he said.

Neufeld has been a political activist, well outside of party politics, for many years. He will be familiar to Frontenac News readers for the work that he has done around the Prison Farm issue. He commissioned a report surrounding the goat farm proposition at the Joyceville penitentiary that came out early in 2020 and was covered in the News.

He was approached by the Lanark Frontenac Kingston Green Party in response to a book review that he wrote recently to see if he was interested in contesting for the Green Party nomination in the riding.

“It is something that I have been approaching with baby steps. I do find that the Green Party is the most consistent with my own values and even though I think this is the worst time for an election because COVID is not over, but I see it as an opportunity to have some very important discussions around where we are headed as a country, and there may be a slim opportunity for change.”

If he were elected, Calvin Neufeld would be the first openly transgendered MP in Canadian history, as far as he knows.

Before working on the prison farm issue, he spent several years speaking about diversity and gender issues to students in the Upper Canada School Board, community groups and many others.

“I was driven then, as I am now, to support equity seeking groups, and I am happy to bring gender issues, all issues of discrimination, to the campaign. I am not seeking to be a politician. This kind of work, like all the work I do, is to further the goal of making a difference in the communities where I live. All forms of discrimination, racism, sexism, put real barriers in front of people, and they limit how we can all work together to solve all of the other problems that we face. We have seen what kinds of problems have resulted from the status quo. I am happy to do anything I can do to promote a healthier political system.”

Neufeld lives in Perth, and has a cottage in the Godfrey area, where he lived on a full-time basis at one time.

The Lanark Frontenac Kingston Green Party Association has not yet set a date for a candidate selection meeting.