The nominations are in, and voters in Memramcook-Tantramar will have a slate of five candidates to choose from when they vote in the September 14th election.
One of entrants to the race is Jefferson George Wright, a 38-year-old independent candidate.
Wright says the piano on the corner of Sackville’s Bridge and Main Streets was one of the things that made him decide to run in Memramcook-Tantramar.
Bruce Wark met him there to find out more about the independent candidate.
TRANSCRIPT:
JEFFERSON GEORGE WRIGHT:
[piano playing…] And so on, and so on… Music is a gift. Tones traveling through space and time is a gift. And I really appreciate that Sackville has this. It afforded me the opportunity to speak with many great citizens here about issues that are important to all of us, both sonic and temporal.BRUCE WARK:
So, you’re saying that the piano brought you here to run in this election?JGW:
That’s correct. As an independent candidate, I’m standing a little bit outside of the other candidates. As in I have a proposition to make about democracy, and a proposition to make, I think, about the foundations of Christianity and the type of leadership we want for ourselves and our children.And this, after extensive searching, is the most progressive and diverse riding where I would like to make that argument.
My intention is to make it through speeches, through oratory, socially distanced, done safely, of course. But my intention is to communicate with as many groups of people as possible, as to what is most pertinent to them in the sustenance of democracy.
I believe this riding’s particular concerns can be addressed and I have many relevant opinions about the direction of the province. But first and foremost, I would like to discuss better opportunities for us to use democracy as a more effective tool in the 21st century, and a much more streamlined tool.
Every other industry is getting hit nice, but government seems to continue to grow and the amount of control over our lives continues to grow. So I stand as both a civil libertarian and also someone who is incredibly respectful of how well Canada, and New Brunswick especially, responded to COVID.
So I don’t want to let anyone forget the civil liberties we have temporarily ceded. And why not always fear a government who is content to delay democracy?
BW:
So why do you say Memramcook-Tantramar is progressive and diverse? What is it about the riding that makes you say that?JGW:
So, Mount Allison as an institution, Sackville as a New Brunswick Wesleyan-Presbyterian community, the religious institutions in the area, the strong original Acadian culture within Memramcook, Fort Folly in its slightly altered position, the original Fort Folly location that has the telecommunications region that has now been re-owned by the native community… Dorchester prison, I’m greatly concerned about the state of prisoners and what we should be doing in a progressive manner towards them. Port Elgin, and that whole area.It is reasonable for me to be able to make my argument to the entirety of this community via a non-internet-based medium, and in doing so remain true to myself and true to, again, what I consider to be the best way to preserve democracy in the country that could be at the forefront of the world in our necessary ecological revolution.
No Canadian disagrees that we don’t need an ecological revolution in some regard. But we can’t let the government, owned by the corporations, and making up money that doesn’t exist, be that arbiter of that.
We need some level of citizen engaged referendum, and it has to have teeth. And how do we do that? That is the question I pose and the answer I think we will find as an intelligent citizenry together.
BW:
What would you see as the main issues facing this riding?JGW:
I will get back to you on that answer.So I talked to, I would say around 125 people to get the required signatures. No one asked me a question about policy, and no one proffered an opinion about policy either.
So my campaign officially begins next Monday. At that time, I will be doing public speaking, consultations with citizens, as well as a radio program on 107.9.
At that time, I believe my policy will be able to be put forth clearly, and it will sufficiently address the needs of enough citizens, I think, to acquire a greater number of votes than one would normally expect from an independent candidate.
And I say that only because I believe I would like to speak to people’s souls, rather than to their heads or their pocketbooks. I do not believe that a soul can be fully extinguished, but darn, it can be dampened. And those screens are quite distracting.
So I am attempting to be a holistic, analog person. I minimize my contact with the internet at all times. I write on a typewriter. I’m trying to keep my mind in a space where I will not be perturbed by those elements, because I do think that they are one of the key problems towards mental health… is the speed and pace and rate. And an ecological future would require an honest reduction in that.
BW:
Now your email address, as Jacques Poitras pointed out, does contain the letters UFO. What do they stand for, for you?JGW:
Parti-UFO-party is a spiritual affiliation of believers that we came from the stars.So I think my one of broader goals is to help all religious people realize—and this was one of Muhammad’s aspirations as well—all the religions are the same. We don’t need to be in conflict over it.
And my goal is to try to convince as many religious people in spirit and souls that the large corporate techno-state agenda is against all of us spiritual people. All of us spiritual people could find a way to stand and rise up. We could renegotiate our covenant with the earth.
So UFO party is a reminder to be rigorous and optimistic at all times. It has no designation as a party. If anything, it’s a tribe. As in, it’s free to enter, you have free conscience and voice while you’re with the UFO.
BW: Does it have any connection with unidentified flying objects or that kind of thing?
JGW:
Well, so at the turn of the 20th century, or in 1919, specifically, the united farmers movement achieved prominence in Ontario, as well did really well in Alberta, and the Maritime Fishermen’s Protective…
The basis of agrarian thought, especially in regards to economics and social credit, to me is very important. I’d like to re-discuss how we have money. I’m sorry to lay it on the table. But, you know, this is the time that we have to have those broad discussions.Two years ago, or however long ago it was that I saw Greta. Greta was a sincere catalyst. And I’m glad she’s done her gap year and now she’s back to school. And I feel like others of us should be taking charge and doing the best with with what we have before us.
So for example, with this piano… I had not touched a piano in 10 years, and I used to when I was a kid, but I hadn’t touched it and I was nervous to engage it and especially in a public place in the middle of the street in Sackville. And so having overcome that I feel like I’m now better engaged with the physicality of this space.
BW:
I want to ask you some personal info, just where you’re from. I saw on the internet, that you’re from Saint John, but where do you live?JGW:
Can I, for the record?
I was called a Saint Johner. And that means something. That is an identity politics issue. And I let Jacques know that I never said I was a Saint Johner, and I think that should be changed to Saint John area resident.So I have been in Saint John for a year. But previous to that I lived across the country, for some time. I spent many years in the states, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, primarily as well, New York, and Los Angeles. And my hometown is Hamilton, Ontario.
BW:
So those are my questions. Do you have anything to add that you’d like to say that I haven’t asked about?JGW:
Okay I’m gonna play for a second… [plays piano]
[speaks in French, then translates]
Hello to my Acadian friends. I’m going to get a heck of a darn lot better at speaking French. My grandfather is French. My heart I believe is French. And I look forward to the point when I have a few more words, and my ideas are slightly clearer so that I can share them with you in a public oration.BW:
Well, this is the perfect riding for you then because even though the Anglos were angry and the Francophones were angry when it was created not that long ago, it’s the kind of microcosm of French-English in New Brunswick, isn’t it? With Memramcook and then the English side.JGW:
The name of this riding, if translated means, variegated hubbub, right? Memramcook is from a Maliseet Frenchization that means a varied or variegated stream and Tantramar is from Old French, which means in a hubbub of birds or a flock.So, yes, I consider myself a melange of many things and essences. And yes, I think, if anywhere this could be expressed and possibly bear some consequence to the voters, I do sincerely believe it’s here.
And any constituent who I haven’t met is just a friend I haven’t met yet. So I’m gonna make myself as available as possible with a schedule to be clarified on the radio at 107.9.
