Well, in case you didn't know, my full name is Grant Alyn McLachlan. I was born on August 20th, 1993 in Victoria, British Columbia, and I have lived in Langford, my hometown since returning from Victoria General Hospital. Currently at the age of 17, I am in my final year of high school at Belmont.
For as long as I can remember, my great grandmother has told me that I am "wise beyond my years." Now at the time, 6 year old Grant didn't think much of this and shrugged off its true meaning. What foolish things we do when we are young...
Back in my youth (yes, I consider myself old) the classic careers paths didn't inspire me. Becoming a doctor, joining the police, or running into a building while it's on fire didn't catch my interest. Like most at the age, I didn't put a whole lot of thought into what I wanted to do. I did know however, that I wanted to change the world, I didn't know how, but somehow, someway I would. During elementary school, I suffered through the consequences of funding cuts to education. It was good fun to sit in a classroom, filled to capacity, short of chairs, with sub-par materials. Between all of this, my mother and father both worked in health care as residential care attendants. I heard the stories of how the government should treat unions well and through them, families as their top priority. Eventually, I learned the government was led by a man by the name of Gordon Campbell.
At first, I tried to have an unbiased view towards Mr. Campbell, but through individual research I learned that my parents were telling the truth. He wasn't being fair towards families; he was putting profit before people. His actions hurt our family, our bottom line, and I wasn't okay with that. Nearing the end of my years in elementary, I supported the BC NDP, specifically Carole James province-wide and John Horgan locally. While Carole was not elected Premier, Mr. Horgan was elected to become the MLA for Malahat-Juan de Fuca. I was quite excited, better times were yet to be had! Politics was fascinating, and I wanted to be a part of it.
It was about the same time, federal politics also intrigued me. The Sponsorship scandal had recently broken out, and seeking a clear alternative from the Liberals, I unofficially supported the Conservatives. Clearly, I wasn't thinking straight, but at the time I wanted a sea of blue across Canada. With good timing, a federal election was held shortly after I watched in anticipation for further details. The election was amazing. The process of winning seats was best for me, but after a week or so of looking over the results, I grew bored with politics. Faint interest still remained though, and for our annual in 2005 which we had to write what we wanted to become as adults, I wrote "the Prime Minister of Canada".
Middle School was a time of great growth for me socially, as I moved away from my shy personality to, well... a louder, more pronounced Grant. During it, the 2006 election came about, which caused interest with the parties, fascination with the seats, but eventually I once again grew bored of the process. Still, in middle school many friends or colleagues of mine in need of political information would come to me. Unfortunately, I could never identify why the reasons behind election victory of defeat for a party. Really, this is one of the most important topics in politics, and through it we can better ourselves.
While I was relatively up to date with the latest political news, I didn't view politics as a career opportunity. Rather becoming a statistician or a video game developer looked appealing from afar. Slowly, I began to realize that staring at numbers, or staring at a screen for the rest of my days was not in my best interest. I looked at other careers but it always came back to the same result, politics. By 2008, I had decided that I wanted to become a politician, but first, I sought out affiliation with a party.
I had undergone a major change in my opinions towards social policy. Before, I was against same-sex marriage, and supported maintaining the Senate in its currents form (I was an idiot, you see), but I had changed. In fact, I was quite the left-winger, the opposite of where I was. I took a long hard look at the Conservatives, Liberals, Greens and the NDP. In what I thought was impossible, NDP policy was completely in line with my vision of a true utopia. I became a supporter of Jack Layton, and was an advocate for the provincial and federal party. How though could I get involved?
By early 2009, I noticed a provincial election was approaching. I determined I would assist John Horgan in his re-election bid, and so I contacted him, and was there for the beginning of the campaign and the end. Everything from lit-dropping, canvassing with the candidate, calling, and assembling signs were on my checklist. In the end, we won pretty easily with about 57% of the vote. Unfortunately, we did lose the general election as a whole, but I was more willing than ever to fight the NDP cause. As it came about, later in the summer as the HST battle just began, I was offered to join the local executive committee for the NDP.
In between attending meetings and organizing events for the provincial NDP, I joined my federal executive as well in June 2010. After planning for a federal election we all knew was quickly approaching, I became the sign coordinator for the Randall Garrison campaign. This role presented a far more difficult challenge than anything I had ever took on in politics, but overall the experience brought about more knowledge of the system, and in the end another NDP parliamentarian.
Since this all began, I have met Carole James, one of the principle individuals that encourage me to get involved, and former BC Premier Dave Barrett. In both cases, I was starstruck. But these champions of social democracy are truly heroes in my heart, and they always will be. For now, I'm learning about the issues that plague our society, and seeking progressive solutions to them. Through this, I too one day hope to change the world for the better, and with many social democrats past and present for inspiration, I know that change is possible.
