OLD BARNS - There are two qualities Mark Austin feels a member of parliament must possess.
He feels he has both.
The 50-year-old resident of Old Barns will run for the NDP party in the Cumberland Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley byelection, which has yet to be announced. The seat was left vacant in early May with veteran Conservative MP Bill Casey's resignation.
Austin will be acclaimed Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Truro Fire Hall at a public meeting.
"I think an MP needs to listen and be a problem solver," he said. "And an MP has to be a leader and support community programs and businesses."
Austin said he feels he can both listen and be a leader.
"I have a lot of experience with different ventures and I'm pro business," he said. "I've run small businesses and I'm a farmer and I think I can be effective."
It was that feeling that convinced him to run when he was approached by the party recently.
"I took it as a compliment because they thought I would be a viable candidate," he said.
Austin said he also took it as a compliment when he was approached by two other parties as well.
"Because it really showed I'm not partisan and I think we need that right now," he said. "We need to work for the community."
That's something Austin has been doing for the past 30 years.
He is a wild blueberry farmer. His wife Debby is co-ordinator of the Truro Farmers' Market. Austin has also been assisting the Town of Truro with its planning strategy review for the past year, drafted a community sustainability plan and small wind-turbine bylaw and is co-ordinating a town-wide energy audit. Austin also leads the Living Earth Council's Cool Truro climate change project.
He successfully fought colon cancer in 2005, has been a volunteer firefighter and a member of more that 20 arts, anti-poverty, agriculture, sports, environment and community organizations.
He has a masters degree in international law of human rights from the University of Strasbourg.
Austin said he feels his experiences would help him serve his constituents well.
"You need someone with a lot of energy," he said. "That person needs to be tireless and constantly working and juggling dozens of files at once."
Austin said building a sustainable and resilient local economy that works with the environment is at the top of his priority list.
Old Barns man to run for NDP in byelection
- Published on September 28th, 2009
- Published on December 31st, 2009
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Staff ~ The Truro Daily News
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Comments
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- Morgan
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:11:16
The last poster talked about Scott Armstrong and his willingness to stand up. Remember that in the last election it was Armstrong and his supporters who stood with Bill Casey. 95% of the Conservative Executive went with Casey - Armstrong was one of his top organizers. He was risking his political future but he did it because Bill Casey was a personal friend.
He doesn't need any lessons in standing up when it's important to do so. -
- Dairyman
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:05:37
Sounds like this guy is a fighter. Lets just hope he can get people to pay attention in this riding. No more Liberals or Tories here would be a good thing.
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- sheep can be
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:04:41
I agree, Mark Austin appears to have the makings of a good candidate. Now he needs to get out there and be heard across the entire constituency.
I've become a bit skeptical of Scott Armstrong's public record ever since I began my research into the candidates for our by-election. Perhaps it was the result of all the sound bytes quoting him as provincial PC party president but Armstrong comes across too much like a party animal and hasn't demonstrated to me that he's committed to representing OUR concerns with sufficient compassion and empathy.
The last thing we need is another robotic mouthpiece. Bill Casey set the standard for independent thought as an MP in this regard...
I don't know enough about the other candidates, nor Mr. Austin nor Mr. Armstrong but I'll certainly be attending as many debates and speeches as I can manage over the coming weeks and months. I hope to be impressed. -
- skeptic
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:55:40
How is running for the Harper team standing up against him for the region?
You either trust Casey or Harper...can't have it both ways unless you are a contortionist.
Time to move on... -
- Kim
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:50:32
What Al fails to understand is that people of this area want to move on from the old fights. We've been on the sidelines here and it's time for us to get to the table and begin to advocate and complete for project funding and governement resources.
