Ian Morton's plan for the pending provincial election: stand up for Perth County.
That’s the battle cry from Ontario Green Party candidate for Perth-Wellington. The Stratford resident has been thinking about running for a while, even dipping a toe into the last municipal election where he failed to capture a councillor seat by only 91 votes.
“It’s been percolating for a while now,” he said. “I’m pretty disappointed with our current government now, obviously, or I wouldn’t be running against them. I feel like Perth-Wellington has been forgotten by our government. I feel like Doug Ford is focused on Toronto, and I don’t feel that our Conservative member of Parliament (Matthew Rae) is voting in the best interests of Perth-Wellington, and I think the people deserve better.”
Morton, a teacher for 25 years and currently teaching seventh grade in St. Marys, says students are starting to worry about the issues at hand from an earlier age.
“We’re starting to have much more grown up conversations, even in the intermediate grades,” Morton said. “The kids have worries, too, even though they are only 13-years-old, they are worried about affordability and home ownership. So the great thing about teaching is the skills I’ve developed there will lend to being a productive member of Parliament.”
Morton has plenty of experience in the public sector beside teaching: he is the head coach of the Stratford Sabrecats, former president of the St. Marys curling club, former chair of the Stratford Energy and Environmental Committee, the vice-chair of the Active Transportation Advisory Committee, he has been a union steward, and also participated in general meetings and parliamentary functions.
According to the Green Party of Ontario website, “the party believes in the premise that all life on the planet is interconnected and humans have the responsibility to protect and preserve the world.”
The party's website also states that the party is socially progressive, environmentally focused, and fiscally responsible, and these aspects are a draw for Morton.
“I’ve always cared about communities and people, so the social side, and making sure people have what they need, whether that’s support for businesses, or people experiencing homelessness, or even innovation grants, I’ve always been a big supporter of people helping people.”
He adds while the environmental aspect of the Green Party is still there, it has has evolved over time to encompass more.
“It’s important to me that we have a strong economy,” he said. “We are all experiencing affordability issues, and the Green’s have a really strong plan. We are dealing with the economy with a plan to create jobs, create innovation, make Ontario a diversified and strong industrial agricultural leader. We also need to promote tourism, and then we look at where we can improve our communities. We look at things like reducing greenhouse gases, transitioning to better forms of energy, more transit options, and just giving people more choice.”
The Perth-Wellington riding, like many others in rural Ontario, has a mixed bag of rural and urban needs. Morton believes that the Green Party is the best option to help meet the unique needs of the riding.
“Traditionally our agricultural sector looked at the Conservatives as their big supporters, and I really feel like the Conservatives have abandoned our farmers, especially the Premier who is Toronto-centric,” he said. “Farmers are incredibly important to the Province and to the riding of Perth-Wellington.”
Despite the next Provincial election slated for 2026, rumours around Queen’s Park suggest that Premier Doug Ford could call an election as early as January 29. A recent poll from Leger, shows that the Ford Conservatives are polling as 24 point favourites over the Liberals to win the rumoured upcoming election. The poll expressed that 46 percent of respondents support the Conservative party, 22 percent support the Liberal party (led by Bonnie Crombie), 19 percent support the Ontario NDP (led by Marit Stiles) while seven percent of support came to the Green party.
Despite the strong showing at the polls, Morton believes that if he is elected to represent the Perth-Wellington riding, he would be able to work with Premier Ford should he and his party form government.
“Our leader (Mike Schreiner) has been in parliament for a while now, and there was a by-election in 2023 in Kitchener Center that saw Aislinn Clancy win, so the party is an up-and-coming party,” Morton said. “ They have been able to work with the Ford government, but with that in mind, if elected, I’m going to stand up for Perth-Wellington, so that could take some of the collaboration skills I’ve developed.”