(One in a series of profiles of Brantford-Brant candidates in the Oct. 21 federal election)

Bob Jonkman may be a new face in Brantford-Brant politics but he’s no neophyte.

The Green Party candidate, who is a resident of Elmira, ran unsuccessfully for the party in Kitchener-area ridings in the 2015 federal election and the 2018 provincial election. In March, he lost his bid to be the party’s candidate in Kitchener Centre.

He was approached by local Green Party representatives to run in Brantford-Brant in the Oct. 21 federal election and became the candidate in May. Since then he has been involved in numerous activities in the riding.

He joined the environmental club at Paris District High School to plant trees behind the school last spring. He brought together party members to participate in a Grand River cleanup. And he helped separate garbage from recyclables and compostables following Brantford’s Canada Day celebration.

A small business owner and computer consultant, Jonkman, who was born in the Netherlands, traces his entry into the world of politics to a 1991 citizenship test.

“One of the questions was, ‘Who is Canada’s governor-general?” Jonkman, 60, recalled. “It was Ray Hnatyshyn and I got the answer right. But I was curious and asked why it was important for me to know that.

“I was told that part of being a citizen is being engaged in the political process.”

Jonkman took the answer to heart and has been involved in politics ever since.

Electoral reform occupies a top spot on his political agenda. He said he favours a system that better reflects the diversity of beliefs that can be found in a community. That’s why he wants to replace the current “first-past-the-post” system with proportional representation.

“There are a lot of different ways to implement proportional representation and there are arguments for and against all of them,” Jonkman said. “But, the way I see it, any form of proportional representation is better than first-past-the-post.”

Under the first-past-the post system, the candidate with the most votes wins. A proportional representation system would result in political parties attaining representation based on their percentage of the popular vote. If the Greens, for example, received 30 per cent of the vote, then the party would occupy 30 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons.

Jonkman’s passion for electoral reform led him to the Waterloo chapter of Fair Vote Canada, where he was at one time co-chair. He currently sits on the executive as the secretary.

In 2011, Jonkman served as the executive director of the Pirate Party, which had in its platform, among other things, intellectual property reform, privacy rights and greater government transparency The party, which was de-registered in 2017, had seven registered candidates in the 2011 federal election. None was elected.

On the campaign trail, in addition to electoral reform, Jonkman said he will be speaking a lot about the need for a national housing strategy that he says would address a shortage of affordable homes, especially in Brantford.

He said a national strategy also is needed to address a severe shortage of medical professionals, which is evident with a lack of local psychiatrists and psychologists.

Jonkman said he thinks Indigenous issues are best addressed on a nation-to-nation basis. He noted that he thinks Canada has failed to honour many of its treaty obligations.

Jonkman and his partner, Laurel, have a son, Willem.

When not busy with political events, he said he enjoys cycling, hiking and swimming.

As well, he organizes and speaks at computer user-group meetings and he is a member of the board of directors of CKMS 102.7 FM, a radio station based in Waterloo.

“I developed an interest in radio back when I was an undergraduate student at McMaster (University),” Jonkman said. “It’s something that I really enjoy.”

Conservative Phil McColeman is seeking re-election in Brantford-Brant. Along with Jonkman, other candidates challenging him are: Liberal Danielle Takacs, Sabrina Sawyer of the New Democrats, Dave Wrobel, of the People’s Party of Canada, Jeffrey Gallagher of the Veterans Coalition Party of Canada and independents Leslie Bory and John Turmel.

In 2015, the Green candidate in Brantford-Brant received 1,582 votes or 2.5 per cent of the popular vote.

“Of course, I hope people will vote for me and the Green Party,” Jonkman said. “But I really want them to vote for a candidate and for a party that best reflects their views rather than voting against a particular candidate and party.”