When Sue Moen moved to B.C. from Saskatchewan in the late 80s she volunteered on a civic campaign thinking it would be a good way to get to know her new city. She was so disgusted at the way things were done she got into politics herself.
After researching each of the different political parties she landed on the Greens.
“It called to me…everything we do is through a set of principals that are world wide and it is a way in which to frame everything,” she said.
Since then she has been a part of both provincial and national Green campaigns. In the 2011 election she ran to be the MP for the North Island and in the most recent federal election she was the campaign manager.
“It was like ‘okay, step up’, it’s my responsibility, if I’m not happy I have a responsibility,” she said.
Moen has been working for the Salvation Army in Campbell River for the last six years and she recently started co-managing the Pier Street Farmers Market.
Both causes are dear to her. Moen said she loves working with the clients that use the Salvation Army’s services. She also tries to feed herself and her family by growing food on her property in Black Creek, when certain things don’t work out she turns to the Farmers Market.
Though trained on the business side of things, Moen said she would much rather work in the not-for-profit sector.
“We decided a long long time ago that that was more important, to be joyful and to be fulfilled was more important than paying off the mortgage 20 years early,” she said. “No matter what the cause is, the need is always been far greater than the resources that are available. But the people that come to it have such passion and compassion, have such will to make things better that what you learn is to do a lot with very little, to do whatever it takes, to speak out, to speak up and to laugh like crazy.”
What are some major concerns you have about the province right now?
Poverty, inequality, particularly income inequality, because it’s all so fixable.
I think our tax code does need revision, it needs simplification. It’s way too complicated right now. For a long time now we have said that it has to be more progressive, in that basic tax may need to change, as in increase, at higher income levels as a way to distribute the wealth and address income inequality. Why should somebody be paying a significantly larger percentage of their low income to receive the same thing as somebody up in the stratosphere of earnings, percentage wise, for exactly the same thing-the percentage of their income is minuscule. Balancing those out seems fairer.
There’s a lot of them, water quality, earth quakes, LNG, forestry policy.
All land use has to be looked at for sustainability, for ecological diversity, for sustainable jobs, so that those jobs aren’t just here for the current generation of workers but our grandkids and great grandkids, they are going to need jobs too.
We are living longer and many people are living vitally and actively longer, so we need to address, that’s where basic incomes and tax fairness come in, so that people can retire, they are not forced to stay in the workplace, they can retire but they are opportunities for them to live and participate and for the community to benefit from their wisdom and experience.
We have to address things like the walk-ability and accessibility of our cities and towns.
We have to support newer and alternative housing options, not just for seniors.
How do you respond to critics and people who don’t agree with you?
I hope first I shut my mouth, that’s my first attempt, and listen. I try and remember that however right and righteous I feel about something, I could be wrong.
Since a vote for you is a vote for the Greens, why should we vote Green?
Because the other major parties have not changed our lives for the better fast enough.
We’re almost running out of time on a number of fronts, but mostly because our system of elections and the ability of our citizens to participate in democracy diminishes with every year that goes by. And the Green Party is committed to changing that.
We need electoral reform, we need to institute proportional representation. We need politicial financial reform.
We need to change our system before everybody that is involved is co-opted in this system.
The sandbox is a certain shape, we keep seeing more of same old same old and unless we take that leap to a party who ultimately doesn’t want to be a party, that’s not playing in the same sandbox, we are just going to see more of the same.
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