12 AUGUST 2010

From the Telegraph-Journal: 


New Brunswick Green Party Leader Jack MacDougall sat down with the editorial board of the Telegraph-Journal on Monday, July 19. 

What follows is an edited transcript of the meeting.

Telegraph-Journal: What brought you to the Green Party?

Jack MacDougall: It was summer time and [a friend of mine] said, would you consider helping Elizabeth May out in the next federal election? I said "what, the Green Party?" and he said, "yes." I said, "no way I can do that; I'm a Liberal and I'm apolitical if I'm anything..." But the request was so genuine and sincere that I thought, you know, this isn't really about winning an election.

And I said, "look, if I go and help Elizabeth May out is anybody going to be thinking I'm somehow being a rebel or anything?" And everybody was like, "go for it, Jack." So I did and helped her out.

What happened to me was almost like a minor epiphany, in the sense that I became a great believer in the message of the Green Party and I was impressed with the people associated with the Green Party. There was absolutely nobody there with a double agenda... I ultimately came to believe that New Brunswick could use a good Green message.

TJ: What do you see as the major themes that you'll be taking into the election?

MacDougall: I think media reform comes up No. 1. The reason we need media reform is because we must begin to engage debates on forestry reform, air quality, tax policy and how New Brunswick is governed.

For example, I believe journalism is a profession and what defines a profession, in my mind, is [that] professionals are truth sellers. So if you go to a doctor you ask for advice or you tell them what's wrong with you, you get the best advice. You're going to take this medicine; do this procedure, whatever. You could say the same is true for a lawyer. You could say the same is true for a teacher and that's sort of what distinguishes, say, a labourer from a professional. For journalists to be professional, they have to be able to go where the truth takes them, and we cannot say they can go there without bias. They must be able to go there without fear, and I don't believe [that] in New Brunswick they can do that.

To read the complete article please visit the Telegraph-Journal here...