Adrian Brijbassi

Dr. Jerry Green is running in the October 6 provincial election. (Julia Pelish photo)

The funny thing about our view of politics is we all say we want a different kind of politician, yet we continue to elect candidates confined to party platforms that are often thin on fresh initiatives. As a result, independent candidates haven’t had much fortune in elections at any level in Canada.

Jerry Green, however, believes he can shift voter opinion, at least in Eglinton-Lawrence, a riding that’s been held by Liberal MPP Mike Colle since 1999.

Green, an alternative-medicine doctor who has advised the White House on its reform of the U.S. health-care system, announced his candidacy today for the Ontario Provincial election on October 6. He chose to run as an Independent because “when you are a member of a party, you have to vote the way the party wants you to, and that’s not always in the best interest of your constituents.”

On his website, www.drjerrygreen.wordpress.com, Green lists his election platforms, which are focused on reforming the health-care system. He says without substantial changes to the system, the province faces fiscal insolvency. Under his plan, patients will have zero wait times for surgeries, emergency-room procedures and even routine physician visits. “Most people think that’s unlikely, that it’s impossible for us to have zero wait times. But we’ve been conditioned to think that way. This concept of wait times for medical procedures is fairly new. In the early years of my career, we didn’t have wait times,” Green says.

His plan includes licensing more doctors, including some of the estimated 4,000 internationally trained medical doctors (IMDs) who reside in Ontario but face steep obstacles in order to practice. Green says the provincial government is legally obligated to provide an adequate number of doctors to meet the needs of the citizens and says he will demand Queen’s Park do so if he’s elected.

“I don’t think a lot of people understand that the government is breaking the law by not giving us enough doctors. That’s part of the health-care legislation in the province,” says Green, who worked with Jack Layton and the NDP on getting the addition of more foreign-trained doctors onto that party’s federal election platform.

Although this is his first time as a candidate, Green has been involved in Toronto politics for many years. He has worked on several election campaigns and also teamed with Liberal MPP Monte Kwinter (York Centre) on an amendment to Ontario’s Medicine Act that allowed alternative forms of cancer treatment to be used legally in the province. Green had his medical licence revoked in 1987 by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) for his use of alternative cancer treatments that have since been adopted in this province and nationwide.