Provincial Executive Elections

President

1 position available

Ard Van Leeuwen

Ard joined the Green Party in 2006. He became involved in his local riding, Dufferin-Caledon, where he participated in 2 provincial campaigns and ran as the federal candidate in 2008 and 2011. Ard later served as GPC Finance Critic and as VP English in the GPC’s Federal Council. He has served as GPO President since May, 2017.

Now retired and living in Toronto, in his work life Ard held various positions in the Information Technology sector including senior management positions in Europe and Asia-Pacific. He has also been an entrepreneur and business owner. Along with his partners he founded 2 consulting companies providing specialty software services to the North American marketplace. Ard holds an MBA from York University and a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Toronto.

Southwestern

2 gender diverse positions available

Teresa Cornwell

Teresa grew up on a large family dairy farm, in Oxford County. She received a BSc in Environmental Toxicology from University of Guelph. Teresa then studied plant biology at Rutgers University in New Jersey before coming back to Ontario. She has lived in Kitchener with her husband, 2 kids and 2 dogs since.

Teresa has been active on the executives of her local Green Party associations (Kitchener Centre and Waterloo Region), since 2009 and is currently the CFO for Kitchener Centre. During election season she can always be found knocking on doors in Kitchener, and in front of spreadsheets tracking the budgets.

Teresa has recently started working for a local non profit that helps people live more sustainably. There have been several transferable skills from election volunteering to working in this position.

Tyrone Russell

I’m originally from Mississauga and moved to Hamilton to study English and Philosophy at McMaster University. Afterwards, I moved to Japan to teach English and became very interested in public transit, having seen how it was implemented there in comparison to Canada. Upon my return, I was involved in the public consultation process for the Hurontario Light Rail Transit line linking Brampton and Mississauga while working in my second career of supply chain logistics. Shortly thereafter, I decided to move to Ottawa to get my B.Ed and following graduation I worked in the not-for-profit education sector in Scarborough. Through that work I was connected to a community organization in Kitchener focused on underserved youth and moved here to pursue that opportunity. From there I transitioned into public school education with the Waterloo Region District School Board and now work as a K-8 teacher. I am a former executive member of my local teacher union with a focus on political action and public relations.

I officially joined the Green Party after my district elected Ontario’s first Green MP and have since become vice president of my constituency association and an executive member of our electoral district association. I would like to join the provincial executive because I want to continue to do my part to create a greener Ontario through the political process. The green causes that matter most to me are public transit, electric vehicles, urban green spaces, indigenous issues, and electoral reform.

Eastern

2 gender diverse positions available

Eric Gilmour

Eric first served on the Provincial Executive in 2017, becoming one of the first Young Green Representatives after the creation of the position at the 2017 AGM, serving until the 2019 AGM. Since 2020 Eric has served as the Eastern Ontario Representative on the Provincial Executive. In addition to PE experience, Eric has served on a variety of committees, including as Chair of the Conduct Committee since 2018, and on the Provincial Nominations Committee for the 2022 election cycle.

Eric has served on the Constituency Association boards of Simcoe North and Ottawa Centre, and has volunteered on several campaigns including the Ottawa 2020 byelections, the Matt Richter 2022 campaign, and the Aislinn Clancy 2023 Kitchener-Centre by-election.

Eric has lived in Ottawa since 2017. Eric has his degree in Civil Engineering and works for a Transportation Engineering consultant.

Michelle Petersen

I grew up in Orléans and currently live there with my son. As a proud Franco-Ontarian, I am committed to maintaining and improving French language services in the province. It was my advocacy for the bilingualization of the GPO website that led to me being recruited to run in the last provincial election. During the 2022 election campaign, I initiated weekly meetings for all the candidates in the Eastern Region. While the original goal was to support one another in preparing for upcoming debates and public engagements, the group became the launching pad for extensive cross-regional collaboration. 

My professional background is in the area of mental health and gender-based violence. I am a member of the College of Registered Psychotherapist of Ontario as Registered Psychotherapist (Inactive). My personal experience as a survivor as well as my career, have provided me with an in depth understanding of mental health and trauma. In the fall of 2022, I accepted a 1-year mandate as the Interim Director General at Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes, the provincial coalition for francophone and feminist services that support victims and survivors of gender-based violence. In this role, I have been leading 14 member organizations to develop systems and mechanisms to increase their collaboration through the sharing of knowledge and resources.

Largely influenced by my background in therapy and social services, I take a collaborative approach to leadership. My intersectional feminist analysis leads me to question the status quo and to seek out those people who are not yet sufficiently represented in decision making. My exceptional listening and observation skills allow me to identify people’s needs as well as their apprehension, which is essential to managing interpersonal dynamics or implementing change within a group or organization.

I would like to represent the Eastern Region on the Provincial Executive. I see this as an opportunity to continue building upon the work I have done in three key areas : 

1. cross-regional collaboration and sharing of resources, 
2. understanding and promotion of the francophonie,
3. equity, diversity and inclusion.

I am committed to seeing Ontario voters recognize the dynamic, honest and engaging way we do politics. I would like to be part of a team which is striving to build our capacity so that we may offer Ontarians healthy, connected and sustainable communities.