Blair Visscher, Green Party of Canada candidate for the Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee riding (photo courtesy of the Green Party)

By Liam Verster

Election 2025

Greens candidate says environmental concerns and Trump threats can both be addressed

Apr 1, 2025 | 12:56 PM

The local Green Party of Canada candidate is sure the party can address key concerns while also handling threats from south of the border.

Blair Visscher is the Green Party federal candidate for Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee riding.

Speaking with Vernon Matters, Visscher said the party had a platform focused on environmental issues that may have been put off to the side with threats of tariffs and annexation by U.S. President Donald Trump, but said all those could be addressed by her party.

“We have come out very strongly against what Donald Trump is trying to do in the United States, we have a very robust security policy,” Visscher said.

“Our goal is to create more jobs in Canada and keep our Canadian resources here in Canada to benefit us, and we can do that while also protecting the environment.

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“It’s not a one-or-the-other situation, which seems to be the case for Liberals and Conservatives. They sort of get tunnel vision, and we think, really, ‘Why can’t we create a system that benefits not just people, but also the environment?’ Because we do need the environment for long-term growth.

The Greens candidate added she was not surprised by the president’s actions or rhetoric, but was “shocked” the rest of his government was following his lead. However, she also noted the U.S.’s actions were bringing Canadians together to say “‘We’re not going to sit down and be bullied, we have all the resources we need.'”

Visscher is a high school substitute teacher in Vernon, and is also earning her interdisciplinary Masters Degree in Sustainability at UBCO.

She told Vernon Matters she hopes to bring accountability to the entire riding as its representative, stating she felt the local MP “[had] been really inaccessible to most people” in the past.

Visscher added the Greens platform included “evidence based” and “fiscally responsibility” policies that could be implemented to support people both nationally and locally.

“I think the first things, the most important, are Affordable Housing Legislation, so making affordable housing truly affordable and making sure that it’s not managed by corporations,” the Greens candidate explained.

“Then fair taxation. The Green Party has proposed that anyone making up to $40,000 annually will not pay federal income tax. So increasing that bracket so that more people have more money at the end of the day. Those are the two most important things on a national level that party level that I think will really benefit Vernon and Lake Country and the Monashee area.

“I also, given my research in wildfire and sustainability, and having lived here for years and seen the impact on, not just our environment but our health, our economy, tourism, we do have wildfire seasons now. So I really think effective preparation for those large scale crises are vitally important, and we do need assistance from the federal government for things like that. So I think, for this area, that would be really key.”

Though recent polling had the election being a tight race between the federal Liberals and Conservatives, and the Greens have historically never held many seats in Parliament, Visscher still felt her party make some gains, especially if people actually go out and vote for who they believe in rather than voting strategically.

“I think, because of the way our voting system is set up here in Canada, we’re sort of mimicking a two party system, and we’re really stuck in this loop of swinging back and forth from Liberal to Conservative and never really getting what we want,” Visscher told Vernon Matters.

“So I’m here to add choice for people and I’m here to spread the message that I really think we shouldn’t be voting out of fear, we should be voting out of hope.”

The Greens candidate added the Liberals were the “same Liberals that we have always seen,” just with a new face at the helm after choosing Mark Carney as the leader. She also said they appeared to be “more pandering” to attract voters to the party with actions such as removing the Consumer Carbon Tax and promises to build more homes.

She also said she didn’t believe Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was actually standing up for Canadians or distancing himself from the MAGA movement in the U.S., pointing to how Poilievre uses very similar rhetoric to Trump. She did believe though that Canadians were “smarter than Poilievre gives them credit for” and would not fall for those tactics.

She also noted the Conservative Leader was the highest paid politician in Canada in 2024. Public documents from the House of Commons showed Poilievre earned over $1.1-million as Conservative leader and an additional almost $660,000 in his role with the National Caucus Research Office.

Visscher is originally from the Nelson area but has lived in Greater Vernon for the past eight years, including in Vernon for five years and in Lumby for the past three years. She said she was excited to represent the newly mapped riding as it covers where she currently lives to where she grew up.

This is Visscher’s first foray into politics, though she said she had served as CEO of the local Green Party Board and felt the party’s policies were needed in the riding and the nation.

The federal election’s general voting day will be held on Monday, April 28.