The following is the first in a series of interviews with Nipissing-Timiskaming candidates in the Oct. 21 federal election. Today, we feature Alexander Gomm of the Green Party.

When it comes to tackling the country’s carbon emissions, Green Party candidate Alexander Gomm says Canada needs to make the transition to a green economy, and it needs to happen now.

“The sooner we do it, the better we are nationally to move into the coming era of climate instability,” the Green candidate in Nipissing-Timiskaming said in a sit-down interview with The Nugget.

“It’s not only a matter of personal security, it’s a matter of economic security, which really needs to be addressed and the other parties are not doing enough.”

Gomm was officially named the Green Party’s Nipissing-Timiskaming candidate last month after recently returning from a nine-year stint in Asia, where he taught English as a second language, science and math in South Korea and China.

He says being non-judgmental, particularly when it came to the different value systems and cultural norms of those countries, was the most valuable lesson he learned. And it’s something he has tried to apply on the campaign trail.

Born and raised in North Bay, Gomm says there have been positive changes in the district, but he sees room for improvement, whether it’s in green technology, health care or the displacement of high-paying salaried jobs to other regions.

“The North has always been sort of an afterthought in terms of policy and I’d really like to change that, especially on the federal level,” he says.

“Because as we’re entering an era of climate change we’re going to see population patterns shifting.

“People are going to move up north from down south as the cost of living becomes impossible to finance and people recognize that we have a lot of great things to offer up here in the North. We’ve got clean water, clean air. People are going to want to move here, but we need to prepare for that transition.”

The Green Party has committed to reducing the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions by 60 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

The party would end subsidies to the fossil-fuel industry, develop a “just transition” plan for workers in those sectors, and provide incentives for retrofits that will make homes more energy efficient, the latter of which Gomm says would create jobs.

Despite the myth being circulated in media that a green transition would kill the economy, he says along with there being international consensus that humans are responsible for climate change, the world is already making the transition. And if Canada doesn’t get on board, it will have nothing to replace those jobs that will be lost.

“Right now, what we’re doing is we’re continuing to promote dying industries and that is economic suicide if you ask me,” he says. “By transitioning to a green economy, with a lot of the Green Party’s policies, we would revitalize the economy.”

On a local level, Gomm says municipalities need the money to make infrastructure improvements that will withstand increased periods of flooding and other natural disasters.

“We need to change the way municipalities are able to raise money. Our municipalities are strapped. They cannot meet the demands that the coming challenges present us.”

Gomm says funding for health care must be based on demographics and need rather than GDP, taking into account the country’s aging population, mental health, and addiction. While funding should be restored to the Northlander train so people in Northern Ontario can access health care. He also suggests incentives be used to attract and retain doctors.

Gomm says immigration may help address declining birth rates in the North and across Canada, but there need to be jobs in order to bring those immigrants to the region.

On affordable housing, he says the federal government could fund pilot projects, such as housing co-operatives with rent control measures built in, that are specific to each region.

And in supporting Indigenous people both on- or off-reserve, Gomm says along with recognizing their different cultures, values and approaches to education, a case could be made to have more services provided in Indigenous languages.

Gomm’s entry into the race, meanwhile, comes as the Green Party has made gains provincially in B.C., P.E.I., New Brunswick and Ontario, which he attributes to more people waking up to the truth and not believing the rhetoric of the fossil fuel industry.

“A lot of people have criticized the Green Party saying that we’re fear-mongers, that we’re trying to scare people, but that’s not it. People should be scared because we’re facing extinction, that is terrifying. But we’re the party of hope because we are addressing the problem,” he says.

“We recognize that Canadians are intelligent, resourceful people that don’t stick their head under the snow when things get bad. We keep our stick on the ice and put it where the puck is going, not where it’s been.”

Voters head to the polls on Oct. 21.