Thaila Riden will continue to pursue Green ideas in the community.
The Green Party of Ontario candidate in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell finished fourth in the Thursday, February 27 provincial election. Riden, who also ran as the Green candidate in 2022, said he will continue to urge re-elected Progressive Conservative (PC) Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Stéphane Sarrazin to pursue ideas outlined in the Green platform.
“I would also urge him to start exploring how we can get a food hub established in our riding. I would also bring up buying cheap Québec electricity to help bring down electricity cost in our riding,” Riden said.
He would also like the provincial government to seriously consider the use of biodigesters for recycling compost and commercial food waste into electricity and fertilizer. Riden said farmers should be paid to install for green infrastructure such as roadside windbreaks on their land.
Riden believes the provincial government should be investing in municipalities to make sure basic infrastructure like sidewalks are available to prevent unnecessary pedestrian deaths.
“Leader Mike Schreiner said it best: ’Now is not the time to agonize, but to organize,’ … Continuing to fight for Fairness in Ontario!” Riden said.
Riden’s one regret about the campaign is that he did not focus more on economic and affordability issues for citizens.
“Well thinking back, I should have talked more about the income tax cuts to low- and middle-income Ontarians. I think that would have resonated more,” he said.
There were 98,903 registered voters in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell for the 2025 election and voter turnout was 48.37 per cent. Riden was disappointed by the low rate of participation.
“It’s concerning to see even lower voter turnout, though not surprising, considering it was a snowy February day. Green voter share, and turn out were less. In fact, that was the case for the Liberals and NDP too,” he commented.
Riden also suggested electoral reform could improve voter turnout.
“I wonder whether we could apply how we can vote electronically for municipal elections, and scale the process up so we can electronically vote at the provincial level. Would that affect voter turnout? Also, democratic reform like ranked ballots and proportional representation should still be advocated for, to inspire our population to participate in our democracy,” he said.
