Going green or going home

By Joe Mathieu

math0156@algonquincollege.com

Ottawa West-Nepean’s Green Party candidate Frances Coates has never been able to do just one thing at a time.

“If you want something done, ask a busy person,” she said.

The Algonquin alumnus graduated in 1969 from the medical laboratory technology program in a year and a half instead of the three it should have taken. She became involved in Ottawa politics at age 19 and even with her hectic schedule, she still found the time to be a DJ at Algonquin’s CKDJ Radio. She fondly remembers being able to tease people over the speakers.

“I used to poke fun if I knew my friends were in the cafeteria,” she said laughing.

Coates has since taken different classes at the college for her interest in photography and for her business.

Her career spanned from work at the Civic Hospital labs and to food microbiology at Health Canada and finally to her own company called Aerobiology Research Laboratory. It was built from scratch with her husband in 1993 and is the only research lab in Canada specializing in air quality and analysis of allergen trends that conducts itself as a business.

“We gather data every day from across the country,” said Lee Coates, now retired from the company. “The information tells people with allergies what to expect out there and they can work to reduce or avoid their symptoms.”

Their data is seen on the Weather Network, posted as allergy alerts and can help agriculture and forestry firms to see the trends of pollen and mould in the air and find how it will affect crops and trees.

Her experience at Health Canada led her to the Green party because of their strong stance on cleaner water and safer food. There, she was made her aware of the dangers of bacteria like salmonella and listeria. The lack of systems in place to monitor factories has her worried.

“The Conservatives are moving to self-regulation,” she said. “Companies like Maple Leaf will be able to self-police themselves.”

“We’ve invested $113 million to modernize the food safety system and enhance the safety and reliability of consumer food and health products,” said Chris Bay of the John Baird campaign office. “The number of inpectors has increased by 200 since 2006 and that will grow under the plan.”

The Green candidate is aiming for support from the student population and acknowledges that her party has favour in the 18 to 25-year-olds demographic.

“As we can see from the thumbs up and the honks and the smiles, we’re getting a lot of support,” said Coates.

It’s their policy on the decriminalization of marijuana that has attracted the most criticism from other parties, but the argument is people who have not committed a serious crime should not be sent to jail with hardened criminals.