Riverside Park event acclaims party's provincial leader as local candidate for 2018

Mike Schreiner easily defeated "none of the above" Sunday to be remain as Guelph's candidate for the Green Party in the next election.

The vote was a formality, one that had to be technically held even if the status quo was already a done deal.

Schreiner also heads the Green Party of Ontario.

"People everywhere are ready for a new government. They're ready for change," Schreiner said in an interview Sunday at Riverside Park where his nomination event took place.

"The message I'm delivering is that if you want real change, vote for a new party with a new voice and send Mike Schreiner to Queen's park."

He said they change people's minds by earning their trust and by walking the talk.

"Through our actions we're delivering change," he said. "I want to be be that voice of change for Guelph.

"Guelph is an incredibly caring community and it's led on a number of issues to push forward a more sustainable Ontario."

This will be Schreiner's third time running for the party, the second time in Guelph.

In the 2014 provincial election he earned a respectable 10,230 votes, just 818 votes behind the Progressive Conservative candidate but almost 12,000 votes back of the Liberals.

Still, it was a 7,000-vote increase over the 2011 election.

The Liberals, Tories and NDP have yet to choose their candidate for 2018.

The message delivered at a party-like atmosphere at Riverside Park was one of change as the party started to gear up for the June, 2018, provincial election.

"I'm going to work hard, not to get elected, but to make Guelph and Ontario a better place. I want to earn your vote," he told the crowd during his speech.

"This is about people power. People standing up and saying 'we will take back our government."

He said the Green Party has accomplished a lot in Ontario "and just imagine what we can do with a seat at Queen's Park."

Roughly 200 supporters attended the event, which included food trucks and live music along with face painting and a bouncy inflatable for the younger attendees.

Adam Olsen, one of three Green Party candidates who were successful in getting elected in British Columbia recently, was also on hand to lend his support to Schreiner.

Olsen said the Green Party earned three seats in the B.C. Legislature by running a campaign on trust.

"Trust and the lack of trust was going to be the question at the ballot box," Olsen said.

"The B.C. Greens were a party of trust. We ran on principle. We act on principle."

He told the Guelph Green Party to be "courageous" and not be afraid to stand up for what they believe in.

Schreiner concluded his remarks to the crowd by saying the Green Party is a party of integrity and will not compromise itself just to earn votes.

"I will never compromise my honesty and integrity to get elected," the local businessman said. "I don't want to play that game. I want to change that game."