NDP candidate Nicolas Thibodeau with his bike
PHOTO DOMINIQUE JARRY-SHORE
While the party leaders have all (except for Stephen Harper) made very public efforts to run a carbon neutral election campaign, it’s safe to bet the hundreds of lesser-known candidates running in ridings across the country have not.
Running a campaign office and getting to and from events represents a significant portion of a campaign’s carbon emissions. In fact Kate Holloway, the CEO of Carbonzero, estimates that 50% of a party’s total greenhouse gas emissions comes from the activities of candidates.
(You may recall that Carbonzero is the company offsetting the carbon emissions of Stephane Dion’s campaign — and they must be raking in the dough considering the plane he’s flying.)
Carbonzero recently launched an online calculator for candidates to tally their carbon emissions. According to Holloway’s numbers, each candidate produces about 5 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. At $22 per tonne, the campaign can be offset for a mere $110.

But Nicolas Thibodeau, the NDP candidate for Mount Royal here in Montreal, won’t be paying any money to offset his campaign. He rides his bike to and from party events and says he already has a carbon zero campaign. You can check out his blog here.
So, what about your local candidates?