‘Allies on the inside’: Why social impact sector leaders across Canada decide to run for political office

Author Brennan Doherty
Plenty of social impact leaders see elected office as a new — and more powerful — platform to carry on their work.

Why It Matters

The social impact sector has its limits, many of which are defined by government policy. In order to achieve lasting systems change, some social impact leaders decide to enter the political arena.

var TRINITY_TTS_WP_CONFIG = {"cleanText":"\u2018Allies on the inside\u2019: Why social impact sector leaders across Canada decide to run for political office. Chi Nguyen got a good look at the immense power of the federal government to solve social problems back in the early 2000s, as she job-shadowed then-Minister of State for Public Health Carolyn Bennett in Parliament Hill\u2019s government lobby.\u00a0 The minister was chatting with several other MPs about how to curb the number of Canadians who regularly smoked. Civil society organizations had been running cessation campaigns of their own for years, but the federal government could offer way more fiscal firepower. Bennett suggested the government could kick in $40 million for a public awareness campaign. \u201cMy jaw dropped,\u201d Nguyen recall

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