(OTTAWA) - Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and MP (Saanich- Gulf Island) is pleased to announce the appointment of Fredericton candidate, Mary Lou Babineau, as the Party’s Labour and Employment Critic.
“Mary Lou Babineau has been a well-known dedicated labour advocate in her community for years. The Green Party works to create jobs and protect labour rights in communities across Canada. I am proud to have Mary Lou on our team as Labour and Employment Critic and our Green Party candidate for Fredericton,” said Ms. May. “I look forward to implementing the Green Party’s agenda with Mary Lou in the next Parliament.”
Mary Lou Babineau is a full-time faculty member at St. Thomas University. She is the current President of St. Thomas University’s faculty union.
Ms. Babineau concluded, “As a labour leader in my own community, I am very proud to be announced as the Labour and Employment Critic for the Green Party of Canada. The creation and protection of well-paid, local jobs is one of our top priorities. We are also absolutely committed to protecting the rights of unions, and to improving working conditions for non-unionized workers. Strong workers' rights are essential in creating a more fair country where wealth is more evenly distributed, and they make our communities stronger and more prosperous.”
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For additional information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Julian Morelli
Director of Communications
Green Party of Canada
cell: (613) 614 4916
office: (613) 562 4916 (224)
julian.morelli@greenparty.ca
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Backgrounder: Mary-Lou Babineau
Mary-Lou Babineau was born in Minto, New Brunswick. She is an Associate Professor at St. Thomas University and has always been an active volunteer in the community.
Mary-Lou grew up in a bilingual family in Minto attending École Sainte-Anne in Fredericton. She received the Lester B. Pearson Scholarship from the Province of New Brunswick in 1990, and obtained an International Baccalaureate from Pearson College in Victoria, B.C. She then completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and a Ph.D. in Spanish and Latin American literature at Arizona State University.
After returning to New Brunswick in 2003, Mary-Lou became a full-time faculty member at St. Thomas where she teaches Spanish language and literature, does research on national and cultural identity in Caribbean literature, and serves on numerous University committees. She has served as Chair of the United Way Campaign at St. Thomas and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Fredericton Emergency Shelters. She is currently completing her third year as President of St. Thomas University’s Faculty Union.
Mary-Lou first became interested in environmentalism and in green issues while studying at Pearson College, and later while doing community work in Latin America. She is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys backpacking, kayaking, skating and motorcycling.
As someone who grew up in a rural New Brunswick coal-mining town, Mary-Lou has a clear understanding of the struggles of working families in this region, as well as the critical need to balance economic development with the preservation of the natural world.
Mary-Lou believes that the debate between economic development and environmental preservation is a false one, and that healthy communities can only be sustained when people have jobs that not only put food on the table, but also preserve and protect the very resources, which we all need to live.