Kevin O’Donnell calls himself a “ninja” when it comes to computers.
For the information technology consultant and Ottawa Centre Green party candidate – who has been fiddling with computers for 16 years – hi-tech and politics follow the same thread.
“Both hi-tech and politics are seen as highly complicated and impenetrable. I’ve managed to penetrate a good understanding of computers and hi-tech and how they work, (and) I see politics in a similar light.
“If you have a passion for it, you can do it. It’s very complex but once you dig in and are relentless in finding a solution, you will.”
For the Ottawa native, politics is the ability to communicate with people.
And his style is blunt, he admits.
“Even as an opposition party, I’m willing to say there’s no money in the bank right now.”
Being of the generation that grew up in a media-saturated environment, the 35-year-old says, “I have an instant capacity to recognize people promising rainbows and promising simple solutions to very complex problems."
He joined the eco-savvy party as a dissatisfied voter, turned off by the other – mainstream – parties’ “rainbow,” or false, promises.
Green party supporters are more than tree-hugging environmentalists, stresses the father of a five-year-old daughter, with the party’s five- point platform focusing on job creation and sustainable energy.
O’Donnell says their plan for affordable housing to create a dent in the 10,000 families-long waiting list in the city addresses “spin-off problems,” like social services and nutrition.
The emphasis on locally grown food and sustainable farming goes beyond the environment, O'Donnell adds.
It’s also about health care, driving down the cost of the publicly-funded system by ensuring the community has the healthiest food on the table, he says.