ATIKOKAN — The federal Green Party has its candidate for the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding.
Eric Arner, who has run in the 2022 and 2025 provincial elections, will run for the Green Party of Canada in this year’s federal election.
It is his first time running to become an MP.
Arner is a teacher at Atikokan High School, where he has been teaching civics, music, English and Indigenous Voices. When speaking with Newswatch in February about his bid to represent the Thunder Bay-Atikokan riding at Queen’s Park, he said ensuring a diversity of political opinion in a campaign is important.
“A lot of people feel very strongly about the environment,” he said. “And, you know, it gives them an opportunity to emphasize that, right?”
Being a candidate is “a great way to take part in the process and generate more interest in voting and getting people out to vote.”
In the last provincial election, Arner gathered just over 1.5 per cent of the vote.
So far, in the 2025 federal election, Arner is running against Liberal incumbent Marcus Powlowski, as well as Brendan Hyatt for the Conservatives, the NDP’s Yuk-Sem Won and Sabrina Ree of the People’s Party of Canada.
