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Provincial Green Party leader visits Orangeville’s arts community

July 22, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Leader of Ontario’s Green Party and Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner, wants us to understand the power of the punch his party potentially has. In 2018, Schreiner was the first Green Party member to be elected into the Ontario Provincial government. 

“With only one member at Queen’s Park,” he said, meaning himself, “we punch way above our weight in the kind of influence we exert.

“Just imagine if there were more of us, how much more good we could do,” Schreiner enthused.

He mentioned the “Green Wave” in B.C., where they held the balance of power with the NDP and had pushed their platforms more strongly than in previous years.

In this day and age, the Green Party message is more important than ever but, in this oil-fevered country, still very hard to deliver. Creating jobs in the green economy stands at the head of their policy list, followed by more efficiently constructed buildings.

Sustainability, affordable housing, support for mental health services, implementing Guaranteed Basic Income, working toward 100 per cent renewable energy in Ontario and investing in public transit. On the subject of buildings, Schreiner made the point that the Green Party is actively pressing the Housing Authority of Ontario to update its building standards to include modern environmental efficiencies.

So, Mike Schreiner came to Orangeville to visit the arts community here and at the Alton Mill. His first stop was to the stunning Island Lake amphitheatre for a tour of it, praising it for its suitability as a stage for theatre and concerts, as well as a platform for regular instruction and private events, like weddings. From there, he continued on to visit the arts shops and people on Broadway in Orangeville.

He was happy to be in this beautiful town and had plenty of questions to ask the owners of Maggiolly Arts Supplies, Dragonfly Arts on Broadway and Aardvark Music.

They explained the history of their businesses and how they had worked through being closed so much over the last many months of the Covid shut-downs.

In Dragonfly, a few of the artists who rent the small open studios were present and Mr. Schreiner was impressed by the creativity and innovation of artists in the way they by-passed the difficulties of recent times to keep in touch with the public and continue to support themselves through their art.

He moved on from Orangeville to Alton, where he had the chance to meet a number of people at the Alton Mill Arts Centre. He had a brief tour of the newly erected three season cover over the atrium. This was funded by a Trillium Grant and now allows for a much broader use of the old stone walled area for art shows, concerts, theatricals and private functions. Inside the Mill, a heritage building itself, are displays of some of the earlier settlers’ history in the area. Throughout, the interior studios are rented by artists of many mediums and there’s also a yoga studio.

While he was there, a lunch was provided and there was time for a Q&A.

Notwithstanding the positivity of the arts and the determination of artists, Schreiner did note that, during the pandemic, artists were the first to be shut down and the last to open. Yet, the vital role the arts play in any community was still there, as artists continued to reach out by using the online avenue to engage, entertain and offer classes. He observed that the arts are an important contribution to community mental health.

It was made clear that the Green Party’s stance on the arts is to increase funding to the different Arts Councils and organizations: theatres, film companies, orchestras and publishers. They are as well, urging expanding the Ontario Tourism and Travel Small Business Support Grant to include the arts. It should be kept in mind how much the arts contribute to local economies by how they and the events they create attract visitors to the area.

When Schreiner left, he thanked the people at the Alton Mill for all that he learned and came to understand. He assured them that the Green Party would continue to press the government to remember how vital the arts are to communities as a whole.

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