By Laura Woodward
Green Party candidate Linh Nguyen is running for the Mississauga Centre seat in the 2015 federal elections, while completing an undergraduate degree.
But this balancing act isn’t the hardest part, according to Nguyen.
“Honestly, the most difficult part of running a campaign is that nobody cares,” said.
Nguyen explained her feeling of disappointment after the “Up for Debate” event, where Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper declined to join the conversation on gender justice and equality.
“Elections are focused around male political party leaders, the middle class, the economy and more jobs. This is all important, but these have been the same issues perpetuated for decades,” Nguyen said. “No wonder there’s a growing number of youth who [don’t] care.”
Nguyen plans to get people to care by bringing issues like the missing and murdered indigenous women and food security to the forefront.
“It’s not that millennials don’t care. We definitely do care, there’s just no one representing us, providing a voice for us,” she said.
Nguyen graduated from Ryerson’s graphic communications management program in 2009 and is back for her second undergrad in international economics and finance.
She got involved in the Green Party two years ago, working as a political intern.
After her internship and involvement with Mike Schreiner’s platform, leader of the provincial Green Party, he urged Nguyen to run as an MPP.
“I was shocked. I thought, ‘I’m just a student,’” Nguyen said, but nonetheless she ran for the Mississauga East-Cooksville seat in the 2014 Provincial Election.
“You put yourself in a vulnerable position when you run,” she said. “You’re still trying to figure out your own identity, but also represent thousands of people.”
While Nguyen didn’t get elected, she doesn’t see her past experience as negative — but one that will help her in this upcoming election.
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