Green Party leader Elizabeth May will be the special guest at a reception hosted by Equal Voice Newfoundland and Labrador later this month.
Equal Voice NL chair Melissa Royle told The Telegram the organization contacted May upon hearing she was travelling to St. John’s.
The organization has previously hosted events with featured speakers from the political world, including an event with former senator Pat Carney, who retired from the Senate in 2008 after a lengthy political career, including time in Parliament in critic and cabinet posts.
In addition to being Green Party leader, May is the member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands, a graduate of Dalhousie Law School and a former senior policy adviser to the federal minister of Environment (1986-88). She is a former executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada and the author of eight books.
The event in St. John’s will focus on encouraging women to run for elected office and senior positions. And while the organization was created to encourage women, Royle said everyone is welcome to participate.
“Equal Voice is (also) a multi-partisan organization, which means our members, people who attend our events, come from all politics parties — all ends of the political spectrum — and people who are just interested without having had any participation in politics whatsoever,” she said.
The hope is the event at St. John’s City Hall will allow time for a question and answer session with May, with the chance to ask questions on anything that might be of interest in terms of becoming a representative.
“Seeing women in leadership roles does, hopefully, help to inspire women to enter politics themselves,” Royle said.
The event is scheduled for Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to noon. Anyone interested is asked to RSVP to [email protected].
