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John Willson (he/him)
It’s impossible to ignore the profound changes and polycrises unfolding globally. Yet, within the Green Party of Canada, we seem stuck in a cycle of "Business as Usual."
The next election is fast approaching, but 2024 results are even lower than 2021, when we barely passed the 2% threshold for our election rebate.
To truly lead in a period of change, we must be willing to adapt ourselves.
Many members are questioning whether our election strategy is sufficiently ambitious. Are we adequately supporting EDAs and candidate nominations as we prepare for 2025? Are we focusing on election capacity and things that matter to Canadians? Should Co-Leadership be our top election priority?
One candidate observed, “I believe our problems come from our internal culture.”
I agree, which is why I’m putting my name forward for VP Anglophone to foster a conversation about the systemic changes our party needs to succeed. The opportunity is large if we’re willing to take risks by empowering our members to meet it.
My candidacy focuses on:
Staying true to our core values, especially under pressure
Building peer-to-peer electoral support through regional and member-to-member communication
Creating an empowering online member community
Refocusing our mobilizers on building EDAs, candidate nominations, campaigns, and membership
Prioritizing data-driven decision-making for better adaptation
Innovative technology, like candidate debate AI assistants
Cultivating an inclusive, safer, purpose-driven party culture
Promoting transparency to foster accountability
If you believe our party is running smoothly, I am not your candidate. But if you think we need more values-based professionalism, then I welcome your support.
Finally, I acknowledge our party’s challenges with retaining women in governance roles and will ask members to vote for any qualified women that run for VP Anglophone.
Experience and Skills
John’s work as a Telecoms and Management Consultant for 25 years developed skills in finance, marketing, technology, strategy and organizational change, with most of that time spent in Europe and the Middle East.
He attended INSEAD in France and Singapore in the MBA program.
He served on the board of the Toronto Victoria Scholars and later joined the Fund Board in June 2021. The intensive work on the Fund board brought the Fund into legal compliance and built a diverse, healthy and successful board culture that was the only female-majority governing body within the GPC.
John’s LGBTQIA+ volunteering work included anti-radicalization online outreach to identify online hate groups and work to educate participants against racism and transphobia.
John co-led a GPC member group called Members for Growth and Renewal (https://bit.ly/3TIQ6ES), a movement within the Green Party of Canada that promoted values-led governance and operational effectiveness. His focus on empowering members, EDAs and staff led to him also co-found the Transparency Project and the blueocean eco-volunteer association (https://bit.ly/3XIJ3gB).
His intensive work on the WeDecideh and Rocket.Chat projects included supporting the incredible Listening Circle (https://wedecide.green.ca/assemblies/listening-circle), a GPC member anti-racism project.
Je parle également le français, ayant vécu à Paris pendant huit ans.
The candidate messages represent the views of the candidates only.
Contact Information
Email: john.willson@greenparty.ca
Website: https://wedecide.green.ca/assemblies/green-party-of-canada-fund
Nominators
Dave Meslin
Lorraine Rekmans
Robyn Ross
Frank de Jong
Sarah Gabrielle Baron
Bruce Weaver
Beverley Eert
David Hunter
Sandra Anderson
Samuel Moisan-Domm
Victoria Serda
Eric Gilmour
Mark MacKenzie
Tara Howse
Kate Minson
Kate Storey
Kim Bell
Evelyn Tanaka
Michael Pilling
Trevor Weins
Richard Freeman
Dana Taylor
Doug Anderson
candidate messages represent the views of the candidates only.
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