With a deep-rooted family history in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce area, Alex Tyrrell wants to lead the Green Party of Quebec in the political conversation.

The NDG resident attended Dawson College in mechanical technology with a goal of

pursuing a career in green technology implementation. Upon graduation he realized that it wasn’t a main priority for the province, so he enrolled in environmental science at Concordia University. He put his studies on hold in order to focus on the Apr. 7 election.

Tyrrell was involved with the NDP in Quebec, first as a volunteer in 2006, then as a campaign organizer in 2011.

In 2012 Tyrrell ran for the Green Party of Quebec in the West Island. “I wanted to be able to participate in the local candidates’ debate and try to have an influence on the political conversation,” he said.

Tyrell was involved in the Raymond Robinson’s hunger strike in Manitoba, and he met with the federal minister of Aboriginal Affairs..

When the leadership opened up for the Green Party of Quebec after the resignation of the leader, Tyrrell decided to toss his hat in the ring and won in September of 2012.

The important changes that need to be made in our government are becoming the responsibility of the younger generation. “It is important to exercise your political influence because a lot of young people feel that voting doesn’t make a difference, that their vote doesn’t matter. But I think that if young people voted their voice would be reflected in politics,” said Tyrrell.

During the campaign the Green Party of Quebec aims to highlight the need for free public transit and its massive expansion, its continued opposition to the Quebec Charter of Values and its plans to increase bike paths.

The party’s specific platform for the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce area includes establishing better access to the new hospital from the Vendôme metro station and improvements on bike paths throughout the borough.

“We in the Green Party of Quebec are really happy to influence the political debate in those ways,” said Tyrell about the Apr. 7 election.

Cecily Van Horn
Photo : Cecily Van Horn