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Hyer wins Green Party nomination to seek re-election in Thunder Bay-Superior North

THUNDER BAY -- Bruce Hyer is ready to launch a bid to return to Parliament. This time he’ll be hitting the campaign trail with green backing, rather than riding the orange wave that led him into his first two terms in the House of Commons.
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Current Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Bruce Hyer, who was elected in 2008 and 2011 as an NDP candidate, won the Green Party's nomination in the riding at a meeting on Saturday. (Matt Vis, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- Bruce Hyer is ready to launch a bid to return to Parliament.

This time he’ll be hitting the campaign trail with green backing, rather than riding the orange wave that led him into his first two terms in the House of Commons.

Hyer was officially acclaimed as the Green Party nominee in the Thunder Bay-Superior North riding for the upcoming federal election at a meeting held Saturday afternoon at the Italian Cultural Centre.

“I’m gratified with the support from the people who came out to support me at the nomination meeting,” Hyer said in an interview following the acclimation.

“I’m looking forward to an election whenever it comes. The Green Party is ready, willing and able.”

Hyer first ran for office in 2004 under the NDP banner, where he placed second to long-time former MP Joe Comuzzi. He tried and came up short again in 2006, before finally taking office in 2008 following Comuzzi’s retirement.

He was re-elected in 2011, winning nearly 50 per cent of the vote to place more than 7,000 ballots ahead of Conservative candidate Richard Harvey.

Internal strife within the party led him to resign from caucus in April 2012 after he voted to abolish the long gun registry, against his party’s position.

Hyer served as an independent until Dec. 2013, when he officially joined the Greens. He has since been named the party’s deputy leader and is one of two Green Party MPs in Ottawa, sitting alongside leader Elizabeth May.

He has two predictions about how the next few months will play out.

“I believe there’s a good chance we’ll have an election in March,” Hyer said, pointing to the expectation of the Conservatives presenting a balanced budget and the looming trial of disgraced Senator Mike Duffy.

“I really believe we’re headed for a minority government where the more Green seats we have, the more powerful the Green Party will be in terms of holding part or all of the balance of power.”

He insists they are the party of the future, allowing members to vote freely and not have to worry about the consequences of straying from party lines.

The Greens are more than just a one-issue party.

“The core of the Green Party platform is stability; social stability, economic stability and environmental stability. A lot of people think the Green Party is only about the environment but that’s just wrong,” he said.

The only declared opponent thus far is Liberal candidate Patty Hajdu, who won her party’s nomination in October. Harvey told tbnewswatch.com earlier this year he was “strongly considering” pursuing another bid. The NDP have yet to announce a candidate.

The party has yet to officially nominate a candidate in the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding, though Ogden Community School principal Christy Radbourne stepped up on Saturday to announce herself as a candidate.

“We’re at a point of crisis right now. This is a time for me to step up and give this community a voice and do something other than politics as usual,” she said.

A nomination meeting is expected to be held in January.





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