Erin Shapero never expected to get elected. When she first ran to become a City Councillor in Markham in 2000 at the age of 25, she did so primarily to raise awareness around protecting a city park that was under threat of development. "I was shocked," she says, to suddenly find herself the only female member of council, and the only person under 50. "I saw first hand how policy without gender balance means you don't have balanced policy," she observed.

Shapero, who kicked-off Saturday afternoon's convention program, is the chair of the town's environmental and sustainability committee, a member of the budget committee, a member of the provincial green belt council, a Federation of Canadian Municipalities board member, and more.

Her message to party members was overwhelmingly encouraging and hopeful. "It's such a pleasure to be here with you," she said. "It's such an exciting time for the Green Party of Ontario."

In addition to successfully winning a seat on council (she's now in her third term) and saving Settlers Park (her original motivation to enter the political fray), Shapero has played a key role in many accomplishments. She said that Markham now has the highest waste diversion rate in Canada, and told a story of helping children at a local school divert 92% of the waste from their school. Thanks to that project, the federal government is now interested in doing a similar program with schools across Canada.

"The kids are leading us, it's not the establishment," Shapero said of that project. "A year earlier we went to the school board [to propose a waste diversion program] and they wouldn't work with us."

For the Green Party of Ontario, Shapero had two main messages.

First, she emphasized the importance of values-based politics.

"We ran a campaign that was based on social and environmental justice principals," she says of her first campaign nine years ago. "And when I step back and try to realize what those values are, guess what? They're your 10 key values. This is where you're blessed with strength...you're founded on strong, conscious, unshakable values."

Second, she told party members that they have had a more profound impact on governance in Ontario than they may realize.

"My goal [once I was elected] became bringing social, economic and environmental responsibility forward. At that time I started working with some Green party members in my area, and my exposure to them influenced me greatly in several ways," she said. "One way was the focus on collaboration."

For example, "I know that the Green party's been a leader in using open source participatory tools for democracy, and that's had a profound impact on how we're doing politics in Markham."

"You have shone light that has shined brighter and reached further than you may realize. Thanks to your leadership things are trickling down and happening [in governments] in ways that you maybe haven't imagined."

Finally, Shapero echoed Mike Schreiner's comments from earlier in the day regarding tone. "What you resist persists. We need to stop fighting and start putting forward positive, constructive proposals. I know that's what you're doing here this weekend and I commend you for that."

While Shapero is not a member of any political party and underlined that she did not want to be perceived as partisan, she had an encouraging prediction about what 2011 will hold. "We will see Greens and those who are green at heart elected in the next provincial election in Ontario. I firmly believe that."

"I see limitless possibility. We face tremendous challenges...now more than ever our watersheds need you, our airsheds need you, our emerging green economy needs you. The things that need to change will change in ways that we can't even imagine. The electorate wants principle-based change. They want truths that they can relate to and believe in again. I look around and ask 'who's going to deliver that change?' You are."

Attendees thanked Shapero by giving her the first standing ovation of the weekend.