Douglas Gook is no stranger to political struggle—or to principled resistance. A lifelong environmentalist, ecological forester, and founding member of one of British Columbia’s earliest Green Party chapters, Gook is now mounting what may seem like an improbable campaign: challenging Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in Alberta’s Battle River–Crowfoot by-election.
But don’t mistake his candidacy for a symbolic protest. With a platform grounded in ecological democracy, peace advocacy, and rural self-determination, Gook brings decades of grassroots experience to the race. In a wide-ranging interview with Global Green News, he laid out an uncompromising critique of Canada’s political establishment and a bold vision for what he calls “citizen-controlled resource democracy.”
A Blunt Message on Gaza: “Poilievre Is a Collaborator in Genocide”
Gook isn’t afraid to name names—or crimes.
“Pierre Poilievre better be careful,” he said at the outset of the interview. “He’s a collaborator with the genocide currently going on in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East. And once the international community deals with the primary perpetrators, the collaborators need to be fully brought into the process of justice.”
Gook has signed onto the Vote Palestine campaign and calls on Canada to uphold its commitment to the International Criminal Court. He supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and believes that government-subsidized donations to Israel must be outlawed.
“We have to get on board with sanctions,” he said. “It’s fundamental.”
For Gook, silence from the mainstream parties—including the NDP—is not an option. “This is one of the most critical foreign policy issues of our time. And most politicians are too cowardly to speak honestly about it.”
Rejecting Militarism: “Redirect the War Budget Toward Youth, Peace, and Climate”
Gook is also one of the few federal candidates publicly opposing the Trudeau–Carney plan to increase military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035.
“Obviously, spending billions on NATO hardware and pimping ourselves out to the war industry is a completely misguided policy,” he said. “We need that money for programs that actually make Canada stronger—climate solutions, social justice, and youth initiatives.”
Gook knows what that kind of progressive spending can look like. In 1977, he participated in Katimavik, a federally funded youth program that combined environmental restoration, cultural exchange, and community development. Gook believes this kind of reimagined public investment is exactly what Canada needs.
“I can’t say enough how important initiatives like Katimavik were—and still could be—for building a just and thriving Canada,” he said.
A Green Pioneer: From Eco-Forestry to Electoral Politics
Douglas Gook’s journey with the Green Party began in 1983, when he co-founded the Quesnel Green Party, one of the first in North America. But his political roots go even deeper—into the forests of British Columbia.
In the early 1980s, Gook helped found the Cariboo Horse Loggers Association, a citizen-led group promoting natural selection forestry as an alternative to destructive corporate clear-cutting. The association supported small-scale, ecologically sound, and employment-intensive forestry that prioritized local control.
“We were successful for over 20 years,” Gook said. “But once people started walking out of corporate mills and going horse logging, that’s when the big boys did everything they could to shut us down.”
At one point, Gook even tried to work within the BC NDP, backing friends like David Zirnhelt and Frank Garden who had run and won as NDP MLAs. But he quickly became disillusioned with the party’s ties to corporate unions and industrial forestry.
“It became clear to me that even the NDP was too corporately captured to change the status quo,” he said. “So I cut up my NDP card and went back to the Greens.”
He’s been with the party ever since.
Talking to Rural Alberta: “You’ve Already Been Separated—From Your Own Resources”
Battle River–Crowfoot may be a Conservative stronghold, but Gook believes rural voters are ready for something different.
“When I ran here during the general election, I talked to thousands of people,” he said. “Even oil patch workers who were skeptical at first would stop and listen when I said this: Alberta has already separated. You’ve been separated from your own resources.”
Gook points out that 70% of Alberta’s oil and gas is controlled by foreign interests. For all the talk of sovereignty and independence, he says, Alberta remains captive to global capital.
“Once you say that,” he explained, “young guys who were walking past me would stop. They’d talk for an hour. And you could see their perspective shifting. They just need to hear something outside the corporate propaganda bubble.”
Running Against the Odds — and Against Pierre Poilievre
This by-election is more than a contest for a seat. It’s a test of the political elite’s grip on one of the safest Conservative ridings in the country.
When Damien Kurek resigned from Parliament, Poilievre parachuted himself into Battle River–Crowfoot, a district where Conservatives routinely win over 80% of the vote. But Gook is undeterred.
“I want to give Conservative Party members the fastest route to a leadership convention,” he said with a smile. “Unelect Poilievre in Battle River–Crowfoot. That’s the goal.”
The two share a birthday—June 3. “He turned 46. I turned 65. So my first press release was to wish him a happy birthday… and a happy retirement.”
He plans to campaign wearing a T-shirt that reads: “Make the Maple Magna Grieve Again.”
The Platform: Farming, Cooperation, Local Economies
At the heart of Gook’s campaign is a commitment to rural sustainability. He has worked for years in farmers’ markets, helped build co-ops, and remains connected to the prairie organic farming community that inspired him as far back as the 1970s.
“I still treasure the Earthcare manual I got back in 1978,” he said, referring to a prairie-based farming initiative that laid the foundation for large-scale organic production. “That spirit of cooperative, local, ecologically responsible farming—that’s what I want to bring to this by-election.”
Gook also sees small business and community-led economic development as essential to Canada’s future. He believes a Green platform rooted in real-world rural experience can win people over.
“When people get a glimpse of a different kind of politics—one that isn’t about oligarchs, pipelines, or war budgets—they’re open to it,” he said. “I’m here to give them that choice.”
A Strong Voice
Douglas Gook may not have the party machine or media backing that Pierre Poilievre enjoys, but he does have something else: authenticity, history, and a deeply rooted vision for justice and sustainability.
In a riding long dominated by political conformity, Gook’s voice stands out. Whether or not he wins the by-election, his candidacy offers rural Albertans—and all Canadians—a reminder that politics can still be bold, principled, and grassroots.
And that even in the heart of Conservative Alberta, there are seeds of something greener.
