Column: I'm in it to win it, Green's Robinson says

There are two question here: Why do I run and why do I run to win.

I am running because my family and I, like many million other Canadians, think cutting carbon pollution is essential.

We don't see action from the old-line parties on climate change. We see denial; we see cowardice. We see ignorance. We happened to have an economist in the family who has spent a lot of time studying the economics of carbon pricing. We decided it was a family duty to run our economist to help dispel the confusion and lies.

We figured I had earned some respect around the community over the last 15 years. We decided I should spend some of that reputation trying to save the world — or at least give our kids a fighting chance against the impending climate crisis.

With all the economic analysis I have done, I might be able to explain why a carbon-pricing scheme is needed and is good for the economy and the environment. It happened that the Green Party is the only party supporting the right carbon pricing policy.

I was also happy to have a chance to promote new ideas for creating jobs in the North — that is what I have been working on for years.

I'm the only candidate who can claim to have created sustainable jobs in this city. The School of Architecture was one of our family projects. At full enrollment in four years, there will be more than 20 full time jobs. It will bring Sudbury more than $20 million every year. And it will continue to grow.

The mining supply and services sector isn't something I created — as a research economist, I just proved it was there. Sudbury business people had built more than 100 companies that were driving job growth. The trouble was they got no respect.

Sudburians were still talking about getting out of mining. They should have been talking about building on the city's amazing strengths.

Senior governments and the city couldn't see the huge opportunity. The feds were dumping money into a five-company "computer cluster" on Prince Edward Island and ignoring Sudbury.

After I did the economic analysis — for free, by the way — a lot of us worked to change minds. We created a dedicated mining supply journal and a fantastic industry organization in SAMSSA. We got respect. We started attracting more companies and more research money. We created jobs.

Then something happened. Green Party leader Mike Schreiner wanted me to really emphasize creating jobs in Sudbury — sustainable mining jobs, clean economy jobs. That’s when I stopped running to educate and started running to win.

What I realized is after years of promoting and studying the Sudbury economy, I know a lot more about how to create jobs — and how not to — than any of the other candidates. I even know how to make Sudbury the world capital of sustainable mining.

Sudbury's MPP can do more to promote economic growth than a full-time university professor. I want to do more. As I listed all the things that can be done, I got more and more excited. I want to win now and I want to break the logjam in Queen's Park that is holding the city back.

Let me at 'em!

David Robinson is the Green Party candidate in the Feb. 5 byelection.