Ray Little: Being Green Is More Than Just About Climate Change
By John Swartz
SUNonline/Orillia profiles candidates from each party in the forthcoming federal election. Each candidate was asked the same set of questions. All candidates were invited to participate, however Rebecca Elming, Press Secretary of the New Democratic Party said, Simcoe North candidate Melissa Lloyd, “is not available for an interview.”
Ray Little is representing the Green Party of Canada in Simcoe North. This is his first time running. He grew up in Seaforth, but has lived in Orillia for 37 years. He lives with his second wife, Julie, and has two adult children blended with two adult children of hers.
“My first day in Orillia, and I can see it, and painted on the side of the building that was our company was Stephen Leacock’s quote, “I’m a firm believer in luck and I find the more I work the more I have of it.” I knew I was a hard worker and I knew when I saw that my very first hour in Orillia I found my home,” Little said.
Little has worked since he was ten-years-old, first cleaning stalls on a pig farm and then factory work at age 15. He followed a girl to Orillia and went to school at Georgian college, while working at Bellamy’s Restaurant.
“I have the lived experience of every demographic that exists in this country,” Little said.
A turning point happened when he went to work at Otaco and met Dick Lauer.
“His legacy live with me in the way I carry myself in business.”
An account by training and a certified management consultant, he has a project management professional MBA from Royal Roads University in Victoria BC.
He now runs a consultancy called LTS Inc.
“LTS is a company I started when I left Otaco Seating. It started out as a sales agency. For the first 5 years I represented an umbrella of companies within our mass transit sector. I would sell widgets to rail cars, buses. I did communications equipment. I did technology and I stumbled into lithium ion batteries,’ (20 years ago) Little said.
“I ended up helping at least a half a dozen companies grow their business to the point they were such a pain to their U.S. competitors that they got bought. I am a champion of Buy Canada. Projects that include taxpayer’s money should be the equivalent of the Buy America (legislation).”
“With the lithium ion battery I got introduced to green energy storage. It eventually lead me to a company called BYD. BYD is today the largest car manufacturer in the world. They’re Chinese.”
“Their highly intelligent president convinced me to join them full time in the role of vice president. I was going to be the bridge between China and North America. Unfortunately I left thinking there is no possibility of a bridge. The cultural divide is just too wide.”
“I have consulted for, or worked with companies in China, Germany, England, California, Dallas, Philadelphia, Michigan, two in Quebec, a few in Ontario, one in Alberta and one in B.C.”
“I am by far the most experienced person in this riding running for election.”
Why run? Why with the Greens? Why now?
“It was a triage of events that lead me to being involved in politics at all. The first thing is the convoy really caught my attention. Everybody can make noise about the convoy. The fact is the people part of the convoy were frustrated with not being heard. They had no voice at the table. The second part is down south we started to have some negative things happening and that lead to some fairly significant misogynistic comments appearing online, which I started to write against on Linkedin; that negative messaging began to filter into Canadian politics and that’s what finally got me off the couch,” Little said.
“I had been involved when Paul DeVillers was our MP. At the time I was going to replace him in the election cycle and my first marriage began to tank and the stars didn’t align for me.”
“By the time I decided to get back involved in the community. I had to evaluate what things I wanted to do. At the time I was politically homeless. I did not like anything I was hearing. I just did grassroots research on all of the parties. I was shocked to find out the Greens are fiscally responsible.”
“The Green Party is the only party to present a costed policy platform for every federal election since they became a national party in 1987. And they are the only party that’s not conservative that’s promising to balance the budget in five years. For every promise the Green Party makes they tell people how they are going to pay for it,”
Is there anything he would change about the Green Party?
“We need to scream from the rooftops we are fiscally conservative. I prefer fiscally responsible. And we need to demonstrate our experience and our depth from our European (party) heritage,” Little said.
“The Greens proposed a structural change to Canada’s system of taxation. They want to eliminate tax on those people earning $40,000 a year or less. That would put five to six thousand dollars a year in the pockets of Canadians who need it most. To balance that, we will increase the corporate tax rate in Canada by 1%. Corporations in Canada, of which I’m one, pay a lower rate of tax than the average Canadian. In my opinion that’s a fiscally responsible tax policy that has exponential benefit.”
Politicians and candidates get asked a lot of questions. It’s almost embarrassing to watch one speak endlessly when it is clear they don’t have an answer instead of saying, “I don’t know,” and promising to find out. Each Candidate was asked how they inform themselves about subjects they are familiar with.
“I take in a gross amount of information. Not just through news and media, but through internet, through business reports. Part of what I do in business is open up new markets, or bring new products to existing markets, so research is something I do every day.”
“In business, I talk to people. They supplement the textural and anecdotal information they get with what we call the voice of the customer. In politics that’s the voter. When you ask what are the issues? I know their issues because I’m talking to them. Sometimes that discussion is happening by email or on Facebook, or at coffee shops, but I have made a pretty good effort to get out and meet the people.”
He has other sources too.
“Trade associations, not-for-profit groups, universities, especially the lived experience of others on a particular topic. When you consider informing ourselves, the lived experience is probably the best feature for us.”
“And I do have the benefit of some super critical minds in my house.”
At Royal Roads University, Little took a course in sustainability that changed his outlook.
“From the first time the professor spoke I became an advocate for sustainability.”
“Real sustainability includes three pillars; planet, people and prosperity (profit). I can tell you in my consulting business I have demonstrated to at least a dozen companies they can make more profit by playing attention to people and planet. If you take care of the environment you reduce the events that disrupt your business. If you protect your people, you treat them properly you reduce the social issues that can affect your business. It reduces risk and increases return.”
Housing
Housing is the first topic posed to candidates. The feds got out of funding housing. Now they want to get back in to support building lots of homes. SUNonline/Orillia believes this is missing the mark, an expensive home relative to ability to pay is still an expensive home. SUNonline/Orillia Also believes the heart of the matter is corporate Canada, through Real Estate Investment Trusts and Airbnb, are the prime instigators of price increases. What would candidates do to change housing from owning commodities to owning homes again?
“The housing sector is pretty tricky in Canada right now. I share those same thoughts. I believe our immigration levels have also driven up the value of housing. 100%. The corporate world and Airbnb got involved in it pre-COVID, price escalation, Immigration primarily driven by our university programs where foreigners with money send their kids here. The other thing you see is ten kids living in a house because there’s no place else to rent, so supply is unequivocally an issue. Demand, on the other hand, is also an issue.
“The housing issue got really out of whack when the feds began this immigration topic, without coordinating healthcare and housing with the provinces. There’s mismanagement here,” Little said.
“The approach I would take is where we have federal, provincial and municipal people at the table with a 6 month mandate to fix the issue. I would include private industry as well, people that build houses. If we behave in a way that drives down home values, if we end up driving down the value of homes we are going to create a problem for hard working Canadians.”
“We can drive into the economic data to extract more than guesstimates. What exactly happened when? When did house prices start to pick up? When did the corporate guys start to buy? What are the buying patterns? We have all that data. It’s fairly easy to assemble. Nobody’s done it. I’m surprised the organized large media companies haven’t done this.”
Immigration
While immigration is a national concern, many economists say we aren’t taking in enough people to sustain the society we created? The CPP and economic growth need working people, but the workforce is getting smaller compared to the retired class. How do candidates think our infrastructure should be rejigged to accommodate immigrants, and will they make sure immigrants are treated fairly by employers?
“It’s pretty accepted economic theory that in order to grow an economy, you do need immigration. I can’t tell you how many waiters and waitresses and taxi drivers I’ve spoken to with degrees. Whether they’re domestic or immigrants it makes no difference. Canadians are typically under employed,” Little said.
Canada also has a golden opportunity regarding the situation south of the border. Many professionals are looking for a way out. What can we do to get those scientists, researchers and doctors to come to Canada?
“We are a very unique time right now. Our buddy south of the border is cutting R&D to all of the universities. Canada is on the edge of being able to attract most of the top minds from the United States – including the folks (Canadians) that left – to come north. This is critically important right now because if we invest in R&D today, we unequivocally will surpass those guys down south with innovation. We can have as much immigration as we want as long as we coordinate people, planet, profit,”
There have been reports of immigrants being exploited by their employers, and by landlords. Why isn’t anything being done about those issues?
“Large companies are very aware of how to attract inexpensive labour. In order to access that base, in order for people to apply for people to work for their companies, they should be able to also impose a minimum amount of training with respect to the issues immigrants face.”
“The most wealthy among us today are being subsidized by the environment and the people. They are not including the environment and social coasts in the products and services they produce. Who pays for this? The taxpayer pays for those,”
There is also a looming issue which is not talked about by government, climate refugees. People who study this say there will be millions of people fleeing places they can no longer live in. should Canada be make long term plans for people needing an escape?
“What you are talking about is what the OECD calls climate refugees. There’s been a number of studies talking about climate change affecting the most vulnerable.”
“When it comes to this topic of climate, it’s partly not on the agenda because the media doesn’t have it on the agenda. When we talk about climate refugees, whether climate’s on the political agenda or not, we can’t dodge it.”
Climate Change
Many national and provincial politicians, and industries want to back away from climate change measures, motivated by ridiculous deregulation and jettisoning of environment professionals in the United States. Is this a good idea? Or a bad idea?
“There is a segment of the population where climate is the number one topic on the agenda,” Little said.
“He’s (Trump) deregulating for the oil business, how do we deal with that? Canada deals with that by becoming an energy superpower. I’m calling for a study into what’s called HVDC (high voltage direct current) lines to be run under the Atlantic to mainland Europe. These are in use in several areas. The longest under the ocean one is 1100 kilometres long. It’s specific to how to efficiently transport electricity. Engineers much smarter than I have figured out how. Not only is Europe energy insecure, but they are burning fossil fuels to produce electricity.”
Little said Europeans pay approximately 60 cents per kwh, while Canadians pay an average of 10 cents per kwh.
“If Europeans pay us 60 cents a kilowatt hour and we run, at my estimate, a $50 billion hydro line, it takes 277 days to pay for it – and they are not burning fossil fuels. And, Canada has just secured itself a highly valued diplomatic relationship to deal with that (guy) down there (U.S.)
Little is also in favour of a new pipeline.
“I maintain we need an East/West pipeline. We can’t continue to isolate Alberta. It makes zero sense to be importing 200,000 barrels of oil a day into Eastern Canada from the United States,”
He also thinks the evidence of climate change is in everyone’s chequebook.
“The ice storm is what I would describe as a climate tax. The science of climate change tells us this ice storm, the trees are 150 years old, we have not had an ice storm in 150 years. I know how much money I spent cleaning up after this storm. I know how much food I threw out. If we prevent climate change we reduce the number of climate events.”
Americanization Of Canadian Politics
Many people complain about the Americanization of Canadian political discourse. Some politicians have adopted the tactics, the issues and the phrases. Do we not have enough of our own problems without importing them? How much responsibility does media bear for amplifying this?
“I’m not going to criticize media. I think by and large they are doing a pretty good job considering they have to make a profit to stay alive. They seem to have a good idea of what attracts people. They sensationalize it I guess.”
Some media are reckless giving voice to people and groups who argue in bad faith, they create dichotomies on issues that are largely made up or don’t have two sides, and in some cases lie about events and facts. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters used to have an ethical code about truthfulness, but you won’t find one on their website now. The Canadian Association of Journalists also have one, but it is largely ignored. The CRTC regulates broadcast and cable licenses and news was required to be truthful in order to keep a license, but one hasn’t seen a report of a CRTC investigation into irresponsible news dissemination in a long time. It can also be argued our media, largely owned by American venture capitalists, is part of the problem. Should there be regulation of ownership and enforcement of what is on the books?
“The sensitivity of this topic is not lost on me. I have taken the opportunity to highlight some of the hypocrisy of some of the taglines used. This is the final thing that got me off the couch. My attempt to connect with progressive conservative voters to help them see what I believe to be true, that the reform party is courting them in a deceitful way. Apparently Poilievre wants to bring back plastic straws. How is that an election issue that Canadians care about right now?”
“There needs to be a people, planet, profit construction around the media business. It does lead me to a fourth issue, funding the CBC has come up. I’m not advocating the CBC should be the only source of news in Canada. What I’m advocating for is some kind of sustainable way to fund media in a way that gives me the facts instead of entertainment,”
“What I could criticize the media for is not covering the other issues,” Little said. Healthcare and housing appears to have fallen off the radar in media.
“Report to us about Axe the Tax and report to us about some other stupid (stuff) and sell some newspapers, but squeeze in something important. I hesitate we should be having more legislation, but I don’t see a way not to legislate. I would hope a team of experts on this topic would be able to come up with a way without legislation.”
The Last Word
Candidates usually have a burning issue not anticipated by the questions posed to all. This is their chance to speak on it.
“Do you know what is French’s Hill? Newsworthy information that happens on the West side of the riding does not make it to the East side. There’s an issue going on for three or four years. Our riding is huge. I had never heard of it,” Little said.
“French’s Hill is home to the most pure water source in the entire world, more pure than water from the ice age. We have more than a dozen high volume quarries; this is not about quarries, this about the purest drinking water in the entire world. Today there’s a foreign owned company extracting aggregate from the site. They are using water produced by the site to wash the aggregate before they ship it out and dump the residue back into the filter bed. When they extract the aggregate they are extracting part of the filter bed. It’s the filter bed that’s scientifically proven to produce the world’s most pure water and the way they know that is through isotope testing.”
“There are hundreds of locations around Simcoe North that are suitable for aggregate extraction. Why would anyone in Canada want to jeopardize this?”
“I don’t think anybody in Orillia knows about this. I only know one side of the story. I would be interested in balanced reporting on this topic. Two consecutive representatives have not brought the issue forward to the leadership or the governing party. The conservative representatives promised the people opposed to this extraction they would support them and they have not.”
“Let’s find a solution. This issue is one quarry and there’s more than a dozen quarries. I’m trying to not come out against the quarry business. I’m trying to shine a light on what’s going on at French’s Hill.”
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia) Main: Ray Little is representing the Green Party of Canada in Simcoe North.
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