For the second election in a row, Dr. Ashish Sachan is the Conservative candidate running in Guelph. Representative of the Royal City’s growing diversity, Sachan is a proud new Canadian, and he’s eager to give back as Guelph’s Member of Parliament, but a Conservative hasn’t been elected in Guelph at either the Federal or Provincial level since 2003. Sachan is confident though that this will change once Guelphites look at the new Conservative Party.

“The one thing I want is to listen to everyone, I want to be the voice for everyone, and I use the word ‘honest’ because sometimes I don’t think we’re honest with our people,” Sachan told Open Sources Guelph in the most recent episode. “It takes a lot of courage to be honest, and I wish when things happen in Ottawa, with so many ethics scandals like Blackface and SNC Lavalin, I really wish we had a voice that can stand up to those things and say, ‘These are not my values. These are not the values of Guelph.'”

A big Guelph value is environmental protection, and action on climate change, which is not exactly the best issue for the Federal Conservative Party, but Sachan said that’s definitely an important issue to him.

“The future of our country depends on how we deal with climate change and environmental issues, and we have an amazing platform,” Sachan said. “As a scientist, as a toxicologist, I feel the government not only has to play a role internally within Canada, but it has to play a leading role around the world for the  global community. I think this issue is far greater than an election issue, but is kind of a survival issue.”

“We have to meet the Paris climate targets. Our platform clearly details our plan regarding the environment, and what our party is doing to meet those targets as we also grow jobs and the economy,” Sachan explained. “Our party has policy on carbon pricing, and I think it gives more leverage to the individual Canadians to make their choices in a better way for the purpose of going green.”

Sachan is one of many Guelph candidates with a scientific background and experience, and as the country continues to face scientific problems like the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change, the accomplished toxicologist said that key to winning over the people who have become skeptical of the science, is to make the science easier to understand.

“I think it’s communications, and I think we have failed to simplify the language of science,” Sachan said. “It’s not that people aren’t smart, they’re amazingly smart. I still find very difficult to understand a lot of scientific jargon, and it always takes time if you’re not trained for it. I think the science should be simplified for everyone, and that’s the job for the scientists.”

Along with pride in being a scientist, Sachan is always expressing his pride in being Canadian. He came to Canada via the United States from India in 2004, and became a citizen just one year before he ran for office the first time in 2019. For Sachan, runningto be Guelph’s MP is the best way to give back to the place he thinks is the best city, and country, in the world.

“I think it’s my passion to serve the community, I’m very passionate, and I think this is the best way to give back to the country you belong to,” Sachan said. “I feel that I’m very blessed to be in Canada, it has given so much to me and my family, and I can use my academic knowledge and my passion to give back through public service.”

You can learn more about Ashish Sachan and his campaign by accessing his website here.

You can hear the whole interview on Open Sources Guelph, download the episode on your favourite podcast app at Apple, Stitcher, Google, and Spotify.