A pastor for Jeanne Le Ber

When Darryl Grey realized he couldn’t think of anybody he would want to vote for, he saw no reason why he shouldn’t run for parliament. As the pastor for Little Burgundy’s Imani Family and Full Gospel Church, he knew why he had to run for parliament.

“No one speaks for us,” he said. “Our people haven’t had their voice heard in parliament for decades and they still won’t have one when this election is over.”

As Grey’s church is located the Jeanne Le Ber riding, Grey is confident his status as an independent candidate will manage to get some of the media’s attention as well as more than a few votes in Little Burgundy. He said the Bloc’s candidate, Thierry St. Cyr, never bothered to visit the area during the two years he was the district’s federal MP and few believe Liberal candidate Christian Feuillette has much of a chance to win the the riding back for the Liberals.

“Why should we vote for these parties,” asked Grey. “Why should we vote for their leaders? What are they going to do for my people?”

The pastor knows he needs more than a small miracle to win this election. With no money and few resources, he still hopes enough people will vote for him to convince the nation’s political establishment to pay attention to the hard realities ordinary Canadians are facing every day. As both an activist and an advocate for his community, Grey especially objects to the way the party politicians slice and dice the nation’s communities into assorted voting blocs.

“Communities may be separated for a whole lot of reasons,” he said, “…but they all have the same problems.”

As an independent candidate, Grey feels entitled to the kinds of freedom to express himself which would normally get other candidates into a lot of trouble with their own parties. He wants to take the best from what every party has to offer and make up a platform that makes sense for the people of Jeanne Le Ber.

“For example, I’m all for public security, but I don’t think sending 14 year old children to jail is going to do anything to improve the public’s security.”

Grey is especially concerned about coherent and comprehensive economic ideas. He believes a strong economy would go  long way towards solving many of the district’s problems but as matters stand, he doesn’t think any of Canada’s politicians have much to say to the people of Montreal’s Jeanne Le Ber.

As matters stand, Jeanne Le Ber’s ghost may be pleased to know someone is working as hard for his people as she did when she cared for the poor and the indigent in Ville-Marie’s Sud-Ouest in the 17th century.