Aaron Paquette, a high profile candidate running for the NDP in Edmonton – APTN

August 18, 2015

Today we’ll look at an NDP candidate in Alberta who has a legitimate shot at being elected a Member of Parliament come October 19th. A year ago saying anybody could be elected under the NDP banner in Alberta would have seemed like lunacy. But that was before Rachel Notley’s election win back in the Spring, when Alberta’s provincial NDP swept all the Edmonton ridings. Aaron Paquette is hoping to turn the riding of Edmonton-Manning orange. He’s up against Sukhdev Aujla running for the Liberals, Ziad Aboultaif for the Conservatives, and Chris Vallee for the Greens.

Paquette describes himself in his bio as “one of Canada’s premiere First Nations Metis artists.” His first novel–aimed at young adults–Lightfinder was published last year. He’s the president of Cree8 Success, a consultancy business that aims to use indigenous experts and knowledge to learn in a way based on traditional practices and concepts. Paquette was born and raised in Edmonton. He lives in the Brintell neighbourhood with his wife, who survived a horrific car accident three years ago, and children. He has admitted to a life-long struggle with depression.” It slows me down, it reminds to be patient, it teaches me compassion. It has become one of my greatest sources of strength,” he wrote in a blog post a year ago.

Read More: http://aptn.ca/news/2015/08/18/aaron-paquette-a-high-profile-candidate-running-for-the-ndp-in-edmonton/