Green Party candidate selected for pending Truro byelection

TRURO, N.S. — An experienced mental health professional has been selected as the Green Party candidate in the pending Truro-area byelection.
Ivan Drouin is a former manager of Mental Health and Addictions services with the Nova Scotia Health Authority in Truro and an active volunteer in the community.
A byelection needs to be called in the riding of Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River to fill the vacancy created when former NDP MLA Lenore Zann resigned to run for the federal Liberal Party. Premier Stephen McNeil has yet to set a date for the byelection.
Drouin said his years of experience in crisis intervention could be helpful in finding solutions to the current climate emergency.
“When you are working with a crisis, you need a lot of collaboration between different partners,” he said. “We all get very anxious when in crisis. We need to channel this energy and not let it paralyze us. If we are to solve this, listening and talking to each other will be key.”
But Drouin said solving the climate crisis is just “part of a bigger picture.”
“Our economic, social, and health-care decisions need to be grounded in the Green Party principle of ecological wisdom, and address issues such as affordable social housing and respect for the diverse communities in our region,” he said. “We absolutely must make the transition to the new economy, which is just around the corner.”
Drouin has been a volunteer with the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Truro Francophone Community Centre and the Living Earth Council. He has two daughters and one grandson and resides with his wife in Truro.