Rob Strang

Natural Resources
Riding: 
Dufferin - Caledon
Phone: 
519-941-9013
Email: 
robstrang@gpo.ca
Website: 
http://robstrang.ca

A two-time Green Party candidate and former Orangeville town councillor, Rob Strang is a registered occupational hygienist and a professional engineer with a chemical engineering degree and a graduate diploma in occupational health. Rob's been self-employed since 1989, providing safety and occupational health services to industry across Canada and the U.S.

“My job has taken me all over Ontario from forest product mills in Kenora, Fort Frances and Englehart, to mines, pits and quarries in Timmins, Manitoulin, Dundas and Stouffville, to industrial sites in Arnprior, Cornwall, Smith Falls, Toronto, Windsor, as well as First Nations communities from Six Nations to Christian Island. I have listened to people from all walks of life in this province and I understand what makes our economy tick.”

Once again the candidate for Dufferin Caledon in 2011, Rob is running to do his part “to get Ontario onto the road to sustainability within my lifetime, so that my daughters and their generation have the opportunity to have lives as good as or better than mine.”

As the Dufferin-Caledon candidate in the 2007 provincial election Rob earned 16% of the popular vote, third highest of any Green Party candidate in Ontario. “While doubling our vote each general election we have been able to cut the Conservative vote from 64% to 42% since 1999 by convincing voters that elected Greens will make Ontario's government work better, anticipate the future and plan for sustainability.”

Rob's political career began in 1997 when he ran for councillor in the Town of Orangeville with a platform to slow down the massive residential development taking place at the time. It was clear to him that residential growth without corresponding growth in local jobs was not good for the community. He did not get elected, but was encouraged by the vocal support of many like-minded people. Rob ran for the first time as a Green Party candidate in the 2000 federal election in Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey on a similar platform of sustainable development.

In 2003 Rob was elected as a councillor in the Town of Orangeville where he proved himself an outspoken advocate of protecting the Town's employment land, dedicating parkland reserve funds for land purchases to enhance the Town's trail system and revitalizing the Town's Transit system. During his time on the Transit Committee, ridership increased by 60% and the cost to taxpayers was cut in half. He opposed the Town's decision to borrow money to pay for annual capital expenses such as roads. While on Council he had the Public Works and Planning Portfolios, and was on the following boards and committees:

  • Mayor's Senior Advisory Committee
  • Mayor's Youth Advisory Committee
  • Mayor's Environmental Advisory Committee
  • Transit Committee
  • Economic Development Committee
  • Committee of Adjustments
  • Library Board
  • Facade Committee
  • Public Consultation Committee Chair

    • Prior to being on Orangeville Town Council he was a member of the:

  • Dufferin County Waste Management Committee in 1994.
  • Dufferin County Community Development Committee in 1996.
  • Orangeville Trailways Committee from 1998 to 2003.
  • Mayor's Environmental Advisory Committee from 2002 to 2003.

    • As a Town Councillor he saw the undue influence that the development and aggregate industries have on provincial policy. Too often development undermined the quality of life of the people in Dufferin-Caledon. Too many Ontario Municipal Board decisions, which are a reflection of provincial policy, did not protect the interests of the people. Recognizing the need to change provincial policies he did not run for re-election to Town Council and turned his attention to the provincial arena.

    Raised in Scarborough, Rob Strang moved to Dufferin County in 1988 with his wife, Bernadette Hardaker, to manage Mansfield Outdoor Centre for a year. When the year was up, they set up home-based businesses in Shelburne. In 1994 they moved to Orangeville with their three daughters.

    He has been a director of Mansfield Outdoor Centre since 1985 and a member of the Environmental Appeal Board of Ontario from 1992 to 1997. As a member of the Orangeville Optimist Club since 2002, he has volunteered at many events in aid of local youth. In 2003, he was part of a group of people who wanted to see Dufferin County benefit from the opportunities of renewable energy. They established PURE, the Power Up Renewable Energy Co-op.

    Since Dec. 2007 he has written more than eighty colums "On Politics" for The Orangeville Banner newspaper.

    Rob served as Deputy Leader for the Green Party of Ontario from 2011-2012.