Candidate Spotlight - Glen Hodgson

Glen Hodgson is the Green Party candidate for Parry Sound – Muskoka, and garnered 12% of the vote in the last election, a tremendous achievement given the realities of his riding. He is one of the most experienced, long-serving and dedicated candidates in the Green Party in a riding with one of the longest Green Party histories in the country.

Glen is a teacher in Parry Sound and is currently the President of the District 4 Teachers Bargaining Unit for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation. A resident of the riding for the past 12 years, Hodgson's family roots in Parry Sound-Muskoka go back generations and he still has family throughout the riding. Glen is a board member of the West Parry Sound District Museum, a volunteer for the Georgian Bay Littoral Biosphere and a regular columnist in the local community paper. He also writes a monthly column on environmental issues. He is also a board member with the Georgian Bay Bisosphere reserve.

Glen enjoys canoeing and kayaking and is a high school coach or referee in basketball, volleyball and badminton. He loves to spend time with his partner Kristy, their dog buddy and their two rescued cats. Glen and Kristy are currently in the early stages of building on off-grid straw bale home on our 205 acres on the outskirts of Parry Sound. Glen also has an 8 month son, who helped him campaign during the past election, attending the rally when Elizabeth May visited the riding.

Glen has been involved in the Green Party since his days at Trent University in the early 1990s. He has run in four elections for the Green Party of Canada. He first ran for the Green Party federally in 1997 and has since run in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections. Glen has also ran provincially for the Green Party of Ontario and is currently their Education Critic.

The Student Vote M.P initiative elected Glen in the last two federal elections as well as the last provincial election. In fact, Hodgson has won the student vote in every election here - both provincially and federally - since 2003, a remarkable distinction, a feat that he and his entire campaign team are very proud of.

In this past election, Glen's campaign faced off against Conservative Cabinet Minister Tony Clement. Given this, the campaign's result of nearly 12% of the vote, was an incredible accomplishment. Furthermore, despite being a target for convincing Greens to vote Liberal and being hurt by the strategic vote initiative, their result was one of the highest for the GPC across the country.

Glen is a candidate to watch in future elections. His commitment and dedication to the Party through election after election, his patience and stamina as a member of the Party, and his time and effort in the community and as a teacher are qualities that Parliament needs. If the Parry Sound – Muskoka youth have anything to say about it, he will be there soon.