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A longstanding North Deltan with a passion for the environment is running for the Green Party in the federal election.
Entering politics for the first time Jeremy Smith has lived in various parts of Ontario and in Edmonton, but settled in B.C. when he met his wife Meghan 25 years ago. They chose to live in North Delta because it offered cultural diversity and a safe and friendly place to raise their family.
During the past two decades he has worked in the waste recovery business where he was part of a team that brought oil container recycling and antifreeze recycling to the province.
He told the Optimist he chose to run to get some answers to many pressing issues.
“I wanted to find out why, in the waste industry, every time a new party gets in they completely change policies regarding environmental practices and how they reinforce environmental policies. It used to be a time where, whatever was set, whoever came into office would stick to that,” he said. “It terms of business you could rely on government to support you if you are trying to do something for the environment. I wanted to find out why it is so broken and I want to bring change. When you ask for an opinion you should want to hear that opinion, but in politics these days, decisions are already made before they hear those opinions. That’s a horrible way to conduct business.”
Smith said he would like to see more transparency in big projects, like the Tilbury LNG in Delta and wants more environmental protection for the Fraser River.
“There seems to be nothing said about marine pollution and marine vessels,” he said. “I would also like to bring some stability to businesses who are wanting to do the right thing and provide a solution to local problems instead of consistently saying not in my backyard, let’s ship it off to someone else’s backyard.
“I value the fact that someone needs to push to find middle ground, but the reason I applied for the Green Party is I thought I could bring a more realistic approach instead of an extreme approach.”
