By Rob Gowan

Shane Jolley says breaking his ties with the Green Party and becoming an independent was a tough decision, but it was something he had to do for himself and for the people of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound.

The owner of Jolley's Alternative Wheels in downtown Owen Sound, who has been affiliated with the Greens in the past and has had some success with them on election day, decided in the spring he would run independent in the Oct. 6 election.

"It was a tough, tough decision but I had to take a stand on the issue of representative democracy," Jolley said in a recent interview. "We have to get back to representatives that actually talk to citizens and are committed to representing the constituent's views over and above the party views."

Jolley, who is originally from Meaford but now calls Owen Sound home, said his campaign theme, which is "taking responsibility" also ties in with his decision to go independent.

"It is time that we took more responsibility for ourselves, for our neighbours, for our communities, for our public policy, all of these things so that we are not looking so much to somebody else to look after these for us," said Jolley. "We have to be taking some of these things more into our own hands."

Jolley first ran federally in 2006 as a Green Party candidate, where he finished third to Conservative Larry Miller and Liberal Verona Jackson. Jolley picked up 12.9% of the vote, the highest vote percentage for the Green Party in Canada.

He immediately switched to provincial politics and ran as a Green candidate in the 2007 provincial election where he captured 33.1% of the vote, coming second behind Progressive Conservative incumbent Bill Murdoch, who had 46.6%. He then ran for deputy leader of the Green Party of Ontario and served for two years.

"That was mainly about making sure the policies that were being developed were relevant to this riding as well as making sure they had good leadership in place and good strategy in place," said Jolley. "That kind of all got done, so I didn't run again, stepped down from that and decided to focus more locally."

Jolley said over the last few years he has been focusing more of his time on the LocalMotive Project, which has been around since 2003.

The purpose of the LocalMotive Project is to build a stronger regional economy with less reliance on global factors that are beyond local control. He said that through his experience with the project and through talking to people on the street he has seen how disengaged people are becoming with partisan politics and the whole political system at the provincial and federal levels.

"Since four years ago when I ran Green my focus has been very local through the LocalMotive Project and partly because of that . . . that sort of made me realize how much of our public policy is not relevant to our local situation," said Jolley. "That combined with just an increasing understanding of the partisan political system as being more and more self-serving has led me to the decision to go independent."

Jolley said Murdoch, the incumbent MPP who is not running this time around, was unique in that he was willing to get in trouble to keep local issues on the front burner. Jolley said he will be the same way if elected and he doesn't feel any of the other candidates running in the riding will. Jolley is up against Progressive Conservative candidate Bill Walker, Kevin Eccles of the Liberals, Paul Johnstone of the NDP, Don Marshall of the Green Party, Jay Miller of the Libertarian Party and Joel Kidd of the Family Coalition Party.

"There is too much party control, there is too much party discipline," said Jolley.

Jolley said being an independent allows him to pick and choose his position on issues.

"There are things I agree with and things I disagree with in every party and I think that's the case for almost everybody," said Jolley. "This expectation that you are just going to fall in line with everything a party says is ridiculous and candidates in particular are expected to do this."

On the issue of energy he said he agrees with the PCs in that the Green Energy Act should not have stripped planning authority for green energy projects like wind turbines and solar panels from the municipalities. He said he agrees with many of the policies of the Green Party, mainly because he was involved with them for so long and helped them develop those policies.

He considers himself fiscally conservative in that books should be balanced and he doesn't believe in deficit spending except for in extreme situations. On the other hand he believes government has social responsibilities that are often neglected by right-leaning political parties.

"I agree with issues from every party," said Jolley. "You can't pigeon hole people into one single party's value system. That just isn't the way it works."

Jolley said none of the issues facing the area now are small, and they all have a common thread running through them.

He said people are concerned about health-care costs and service delivery, energy because they feel imposed upon by wind farms, education, jobs, local economics and agriculture.

"On all of these issues, many of the solutions lie on making sure we have that more localized, custom approach to the problem solving," said Jolley. "That is what is being neglected in provincial policy in general."

He said one local initiative he is touting in his campaign is the creation of a regional mobility strategy to move people and goods.

"Especially with more and more seniors who need access to services, with the inability of food producers to get their products into local markets, all of these sorts of things require some kind of better mobility strategy," said Jolley, who added he also wants to see community-based energy projects given top priority and see the Local Health Integration Networks downsized to better cater to local needs.

Statistics show that rural Ontario is "punching above its weight" when it comes to economic productivity, but is not being treated like it is by the provincial government, he said.

"We continue to see our schools close, we continue to see our local health clinics disappear, we continue to see services cut from rural Ontario in all kinds of areas," said Jolley. "It is time that rural Ontario presses the fact we are punching above our weight."

Jolley said the type of products being produced in rural Ontario, particularly agriculture and manufacturing, are important in keeping the rest of the province going and it is time to assert that importance more strongly.

"Those are the things that are a foundation of the entire economy," said Jolley. "Without those things all of the financial and service sector side has nothing to base itself upon."

Rural ridings need to band together on issues of concern and make their voices heard at Queen's Park, he said.

"What you go and do is you find other members, other ridings, that share similar concerns," said Jolley. "You put together bills if you can get enough, particularly in the governing party, to support that idea. It's a lot of consensus building, alliance building and so on."

Jolley said that while he has never held political office he has been heavily involved in politics serving on several city committees and as deputy leader of the Green Party of Ontario.

He said that although he has no experience as an elected representative he is a self-described political geek who goes to the legislature often.

"You learn how things are done and I have had lots of communication with elected officials and their people to understand the system and figure out how to make it work for our local people," said Jolley. "Sometimes, not always, experience can work against a person in that they become accustomed to the status quo."

Jolley referred to a song by The Stanfields, a band from Nova Scotia that infuses rock, Celtic and bluegrass together. Jolley said that in the song it tells about a boy who, after listening to his father complain about the political system, vows to get elected and be a man of the people, but instead gets comfortable with the system and becomes just another politician who "draws from the trough and fights about nothing."

"It's a brilliant illustration because that's what happens. People will go in with good intentions, but experience often makes you ineffective," said Jolley, who added he is committed to not let that happen to him.

Jolley said he doesn't run for office because he enjoys it, but because he is not able to sit on the sidelines and watch all the things that are wrong with the system.

"There are times I would just rather not be involved, but I feel the responsibility so I do it," said Jolley.

Jolley, 40, went to Ottawa for four years following high school and he said it didn't take him long before he realized he wanted to be back in Grey-Bruce.

"I began to see we do have a uniqueness here both in terms of our geography, in terms of our lifestyle, our culture and in terms of our unique economy," said Jolley, who has three daughters, Jessie, 17, Cayla, 15, and Heather, 12, with wife Dianne. "I love it here and I want my kids to grow up and contribute to this local economy if they so choose."

He said representing the riding and the people of Grey-Bruce would be an honour.

"It is a place I would be more than proud to represent," he said.

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