Green Party names candidate for vacant seat

AMHERST - Jason Blanch is hoping to give the voters of northern Nova Scotia another option when they go to the polls sometime later this year to elect a replacement for longtime MP Bill Casey.
"I sort of subscribe to what Michael Moore has said. If you don't like the options that are available to you, create your own option," the 39-year-old Blanch said, confirming he will be
the Green Party candidate
in Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley.
This will be the first time since 2006 that the party will have a candidate after party Leader Elizabeth May elected last year not to run a candidate against Casey since she considered him an honorary member of
her party.
Blanch ran as an Independent in the 2006 provincial election in Cumberland North and also ran for a seat on Amherst town council in 2004. He recently completed his masters degree at St. Francis Xavier and is hoping to do work in the environmental protection field.
Rising sea levels and concerns about dikes around the Bay of Fundy will be something Blanch will address during the campaign. He believes an open discussion on the issue will change attitudes and hopefully bring about action.
Other candidates for the seat are Scott Armstrong, Conservatives; Jim Burrows, Liberals; Mark Austin, NDP; and Jim Hnatiuk, Christian Heritage Party.