Dr. Marlene Spruyt chosen as Green Party candidate in LFK for 2022 Ontario election

Jeff Green | Dec 15, 2021

The Ontario provincial election is still 6 months away, but all of the major parties have now selected their candidates in the Lanark Frontenac Kingston riding.

On Sunday evening (December 12) after extending voting for 6 hours to accommodate n major power outage, the LFK Ontario Green Party riding association met over Zoom to tally the results in a contest between Maddy Dever, an autism and poverty rights advocate from Carleton Place, and Dr. Marlene Spruyt, a recently retired Medical Officer of Health from Ardoch.

Spruyt compares her commitment to the Green Party with her decision to make a mid-career change from family medicine to public health.

“I decided that instead of helping people once they have become ill, I wanted to work on the underlying causes of many of those conditions by working in Public Health. It's the same thing with climate change. We can deal with the cause or we can wait and have to live through the results of our inaction. The Green Party is the one that is committed.

Dr. Spruyt was selected after what returning officer Anita Payne described as a “very close vote”.

“I did not expect this,” said Dr. Spruyt, “I thought Maddie was a very strong candidate, and was going to win.”

But she then said that she will begin reaching out to local party members this week, and will begin campaigning as well.

“I have become increasingly concerned about the negative impacts of climate change on the health and well-being of our society and in particular vulnerable populations. The Green Party provides an exciting opportunity to support individuals, families, communities and businesses in their transition to a low carbon economy that will be sustainable for future generations,” she said.