10005 Random-Burin-St. George's - MARK BRENNAN
mbrennan@greenparty.ca

Mark Brennan is 37 years old and was raised on the rugged West Coast of Scotland. He moved to the Maritimes almost 20 years ago. Mark served five years in the Royal Navy at sea, with much of his time spent in peace keeping duties in the Gulf, Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic. He has been busy in his local Maritime community of White Hill, Nova Scotia as a past volunteer fire fighter, soccer coach and as an important voice for the environment. Mark is a landscape painter and healthcare worker in the town of New Glasgow. He has been married to Lucy for 17 years and they have one daughter, Season - age 8. They live in a very rural area of Nova Scotia on an old homestead farm that has been in the family for six generations and farmed for almost as long.

Mark's strong belief that the protection and well-being of the planet should be a focal point for humans has led him to run in Random-Burin-St. George's during this election. At home, he has been involved in many forestry campaigns and has also worked for new protected areas in Nova Scotia. His main focus has been to oppose clear-cutting and the industrial spraying of chemicals on the forests. His community recently fought a battle to stop an industrial pulp mill from spraying the forests in their area.

Mark is also opposed to the industrial co-modification of nature. This would include the killing of seals. "I'm not running in this election to try to take away from the Newfoundlanders their tradition of hunting seals for food purposes. However, industrial style sealing needs to come to an end in Canada. Oceans need bio-diversity to thrive and through over-fishing and removal of marine mammals we are creating a sterile ocean void of the diversity it contained before industrialization, mismanagement and over fishing. I do hunt and fish for food myself, but we cannot treat the earths' species as a commodity for human use and profit on the scale we are seeing if we are to stand a chance of maintaining a healthy planet."

Mark has traveled to Newfoundland to paint it's rugged beauty and feels a close connection to the Island, especially after two visits to Beaumont Hamel memorial battlefield, in the Somme area of France. This is the area where so many young Newfoundlanders gave their lives for our freedom in the First World War. "I am a veteran myself and so are many members of my family. Remembrance is so very important to us, they gave us the freedom we have today and that is why I am running in this election. It is important to me that those who have a green conscience in the riding of Random - Burin - St. George's, can have a place to mark their vote on election day."

"I also realize that Random-Burin-St. George's has its problems and that some communities don't even have clean drinking water, this is unacceptable. Taking care of the planet also means taking care of its people. Certainly I am not expected to win, but by voting Green this election you can send a strong voice to the newly elected official that the well-being of the environment must become a priority instead of an afterthought."

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