Solid like Laraque: Ex-NHL tough guy says it's easy being Green

Georges Laraque stretches during a Montreal Canadiens practice in April 2009. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Georges Laraque is the first to say he's not ready to run for public office. Not yet, at least.

The recently retired NHL enforcer, committed vegan and vertical-farming promoter also freely admits the Green Party's decision to appointed him Elizabeth May's deputy is "all about publicity."

But, he says, it's also about changing the world.

"So I'm good with that," Laraque says with a laugh in a telephone interview Tuesday from his home in Edmonton, where he spent the better part of a decade as the resident heavyweight before taking his trade to Phoenix, Pittsburgh and finally, Montreal.

Q: How and when did you hook up with the Greens? Where did this decision come from?

A: This started a year and a half ago, once I became vegan. I saw a documentary that was called Earthlings. When I saw that I decided instantly to become vegan, and I started doing conferences around Montreal, talking to hundreds of people about animals, about health and how the animal industry is affecting our health, and talking about the environment. When I started doing that, the Green Party heard about that and asked me if I wanted to be a member. And I thought that would be a good idea because it would be a way to promote and help people get a sense of the environment on a much higher scale. And again, I knew how bad Canada was in terms of pollution with our environment, especially in Copenhagen. When all the countries met, Canada pretty much said no to all the environmental measures to help for the pollution because of all our industries.

So I said yes, I'm working with the Green Party. I really like their policies and working on different stuff with them. When Jaques Rivard left as deputy, that's when they came up to me again and asked me if I could take his spot. It's an honour to have that responsibility, right? I'm all about trying to touch as many people as I can, and trying to get people to vote Green, so I couldn't refuse.

Q: What do you bring to the job?

A: I don't talk like a politician. Politicians, sometimes they use words that normal people don't understand. And maybe people don't like politics and they don't want to vote. Me? Because I talk differently and people that know me that I've always been involved socially in the community. I thought that I would bring something different. People could look at me and identify themselves to me when I talk and become more interested in the Green Party, but more importantly, about voting. How can we be a democratic country if 41 per cent of people don't vote? People don't vote because they don't like politics. They don't understand it and they think it's boring. But when you get someone like me, you attract a younger crowd, and people listen to my message.

A lot of people are going to say: "Well they got you for popularity reasons." Well, yes. Hello? I know that, and it's no different than Ken Dryden or Jacques Demers and some other athlete who joins a political party. It's all about publicity and there's nothing wrong with that. Because at the end of the day, what are we doing that for?

We want to do that because we want to help Canada, change the world and improve the environment. I'm doing this for free. I'm doing this to get people involved. At the same time, my job right now is with TerraSphere, which is the parent pioneer of vertical farming. It's going to change the world. This is a green technology I'm going to take all around the world.

Q: I'm surprised to hear you're not planning to run as a candidate in the next election. Wouldn't running give you more of a platform to get your message out?

A: I can't run for now. Because right now, there's a couple of projects I have to take care of before I do this. Once you run, you need to give it your undivided attention and I need to study and learn a lot of things outside of the [Green Party's] environmental policy, right? In Haiti, I'm working with World Vision on building the Grace children's hospital. It's really important. My parents were from there, they were born there. I'm really lucky to be in Canada. I can't quit on those people.

Q: Do you have a time frame, say once those projects are completed, in which you would commit to running?

A: Yeah, eventually when everything is done, it's possible. I can never say no. The more you get involved, the deeper you're into it, then it. Ultimately to have a bigger impact would be to run, and I know that. When TerraSphere and the hospital project, until it's done, I can't do that. Until then, I'm going to promote the Green Party all over Canada, and do speeches and in the future we'll see what happens. But now, I would not be ready. Working closely with [Deputy Green Leader] Adriane Carr and Elizabeth May, I'm learning every day about the policies and the stuff I need.

Q: Have you heard any reaction from the Green Party membership? Are they excited, or are they questioning how a novice, in terms of political experience, rose to deputy leader status?

A: Again, this is about publicity. How could they not be excited with the attention the Green Party has been getting. I'm well aware that I'm not qualified enough for now to run, and the fact that I say that, what does it say to to them? That I know what I'm doing, right? At the end of the day, they approached me because they wanted to have more recognition for the Green Party so we can actually change the world together. So I'm good with that.