Riding: Inverness
Candidate Name: Nathalie Arsenault
email: nathalie.arsenault@gmail.com
Nathalie Arsenault grew up in an Acadian family in rural Prince Edward Island. « I was lucky enough to have a family that taught me the fundamentals in life and showed me that material wealth can never bring you true satisfaction». She has always been curious in understanding why the world is the way it is and why our societies are permeated with so many social, economic and environmental issues.
She has earned her bachelor’s degree in Recreational Studies at the Université de Moncton, and her Master’s in International Studies at the Université de Montréal. Nathalie has always been attracted to community development. As a community development agent for the Cheticamp Acadian region, her latest ambition is to revitalize the rural communities of the Western side of Cape Breton.
In between her degrees, Nathalie has lived and worked in communities in Africa and the Caribbean. «The one thing that shocked me the most when I went to Africa the first time, was how little they consume and how grateful they are for what they have». This propelled her into a series of questions about how we utilize resources here in the North. After years of reflexion, she has come to the realization that the underlying issue that causes economic strife, health problems and imbalanced consumerism is found in an abuse of the natural environment. «The one thing that links us all together is that we all live on the same planet; we must therefore work together to make it a better place to live».
As a Green Party candidate, she hopes to inspire people to become aware of that interconnectedness. The state of the economy is intrinsically linked to the environment and people are starting to realize that. When we start to take matters into our hands and to construct the sustainable society we would like to see, we will then see important changes occurring. If the 20th century was characterized by a fossil fuel and overconsumption based economy, the 21th century is one of renewable energy technology and locally based economic activity.