"I n my forties, I decided to run for public office. We built an amazing team over two years with a hard-core grassroots campaign. Our motto was "Run Like a Girl." And I won. I was appointed minister of the environment and climate change in 2015 in then prime minister Justin Trudeau's first cabinet. I worked hard to bring people together to do big things. I did a lot that I'm proud of, such as securing a national climate plan."
"Before an election in which I would easily have been re-elected, I just got on my bike, went to one of my favourite spots in the riding I represented, and announced I was done. I knew many people would be surprised and wouldn't understand my decision. The truth is that while I loved most of my time in politics, I'd promised myself to leave when I'd done what I'd come to do."
"There's no question that the volume of hate toward me was jarring and upsetting. It hurt that some people who had never met me, who had no idea what I was like, not only hated me but, let's not mince words, wanted to hurt or even kill me or my kids. They couldn't see that I was just a regular person doing the best I could at a very hard job."
She ran for public office in her forties, built a grassroots team over two years, campaigned under the motto "Run Like a Girl," and won. She was appointed minister of the environment and climate change in 2015 and helped secure a national climate plan. She became minister of infrastructure and communities in 2019. In 2021, just over a month before turning fifty, she left politics before an easily won re-election, announcing her departure privately. She had promised to leave after accomplishing her goals and also faced intense hate, threats to her and her children, and harmful attacks on staff. Studies note that women pushing environmental action are targeted more frequently and endure worse attacks, with much nastiness rooted in insecurity and fear.
Read at The Walrus
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