Greg Vezina (Gregory Hugh) was born on January 13, 1957 in North Bay Ontario Canada. He is the son of Lyall and Ellen and the twin brother of Cathy. He has four brothers and four sisters. His oldest brother, Christopher Lyall Jon Vezina is a world renowned sculptor.
At the age of 14 he left school to travel North America in the amusement business. At 20 he went to work for Garrison and Company in the radio advertising business. Two years later he started his own radio advertising sales business, Western Radio Broadcasting Promotions with his wife, Kathleen Marie Kirkland Vezina, the sixth child of Jack and Mary Kirkland, of Unity Saskatchewan.
In 1980 Greg, Kathy and family started C.A.E.C.-Canadian Alternative Energy Corp. and developed a conversion system for vehicles to run on ammonia (NH3) which they branded as "Hydrofuel". In 1984 they received the Canadian Trademark. They had travelled to California and the Arizona desert and envisioned the first truly green energy currency. Sunlight, water and air to make ammonia for automotive fuel, and electrical power generation and storage. In Canada they proposed using hydroelectric power as well as solar, wind and tidal power, but the prepared a complete business plan for 1000 megawatt 300 metric ton per day electrolytic ammonia plant powered by nuclear energy in 1983.
A lifelong Conservative who had been involved in politics since his early teens, in 1982 Greg worked with Peter Pocklington on his Federal Progressive Conservative Leadership attempt and he was elected a delegate and engineered the election of many other. Mr. Pocklington had endorsed such policies as an end of government subsidies to hydrocarbon energy, a flat tax system and green economic practices. After he was unsuccessful in approaching the new leader of the Party he resigned from the party.
Greg got involved with the Green Party and became a founding Candidate of the Green Party of Canada in 1983; Greg was called upon by the Green Party Leader Dr. Trevor Hancock to prevent candidate nomination takeovers in the Ottawa ridings by Engineer and professional gambler John Turmel. Greg was nominated as the Green Party of Canada Candidate for Nepean Carlton in the 1983 Federal Election and as the Provincial Candidate in Ottawa Centre in the 1994 by-election. He was a Registered Agent became Chief Agent of the Green Party of Canada in the mid 1980's. As Chief Agent he worked with other Alternative Parties, formed an association and worked to change Canada's many unconstitutional election laws and unfair subsidies. By the late 1990s every electoral law challenge he worked on was defeated or changed except election broadcasting.
When many Canadians were arrested for protesting logging at Clayoquot Sound he devised a way for people to contribute to the Green Party of Canada and get tax credits for political contributions (where income was sufficient) to help pay the hundreds of thousands of fines levied by the Courts. A Long battle with Elections Canada ensued where the regulators tried to control the use of the Green Party's funds. Without the support of the three Parties (P.C., Liberal and NDP) in the House of Commons he and the Green Party fought off all attempts.
In the mid 1980's he won several Canadian Radio, Television and Communications Commission (CRTC) decisions against broadcasters for not providing equitable coverage to the Green Party during elections (CRTC 1987-337, 1988-142, 1995-44). In December 1985 the Conservative candidate, then Ottawa city councillor Graham Bird and Liberal candidate and Ottawa radio personality Lowell Green walked off a live television debate on CTV affilate CJOH TV in Ottawa because the station refused to let Greg and two other candidates participate.
Following the 1988 federal election, after a decision of the Attorney General of Canada to stay a prosecution under the Broadcasting Act initiated by the CRTC against several Canadian Television networks, at the instance of the CRTC, a private prosecution was instituted on behalf of the Green Party of Canada by former Chief Agent and Treasurer Greg Vezina against CBC, CTV and Global, claiming that these broadcasters had breached the Television Broadcasting Regulations 1987, because they had not included the Green Party and other accredited and registered small political party Leaders in the Leaders' debates during a federal general election and had failed to provide equitable time to them.
In R.v. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation et al., [1993] 51 C.P.R.(3d), the Ontario Court of Appeal held that debates were not of a partisan political character. The Court believed that while the participants in a debate may very well be partisan, the program itself, because it presented more than one view, was not. The Court therefore ruled that debates were not covered by the relevant section of the regulations and notwithstanding provisions of under the Canada Elections Act limiting, restricting and in many cases prohibiting contributions of political advertising and broadcasting, declared both Acts to be 'a complete code' and therefore there was no requirement to provide any time at all for parties or candidates excluded from debates during election campaigns no matter how many candidates or parties were excluded so long as two or more were included in such programs. (Broadcasters and other media used the same reasoning to exclude commentators and representatives from smaller parties in news and public affairs panels and programs both during and in between elections in Canada). The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada which refused to grant leave to appeal (without reasons as is the custom) in decision 23881 by Justices La Forest, Sopinka and Major JJ, released on May 6, 1994. http://scc.lexum.org/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/bulletins/en/item/21/index.do (Judgements of the Supreme Court of Canada, Bulletin of May 6, 1994) Subsequently, the CRTC issued Public Notice CRTC 1995-44, Election-period broadcasting: Debates, which stated, In view of this judgment, the Commission will no longer require that so-called "debates" programs feature all rival parties or candidates in one or more programs. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1995/pb95-44.htm
During the Trial and Appeals he approached Moses Znaimer and Denise Donlon of City TV and Much Music and in the 1993 election he co-produced the award winning TV programs Talk me to your Leader and Vote with a vengeance. In both the 1993 and the 2000 elections, Greg Vezina working as an independent producer and the Green Party of Canada and the Natural Law Party of Canada organized All Party Leaders Debates which invited the leaders of all registered and accredited parties to participate. On both occasions the leaders of the major parties declined, but the leaders of the other smaller political parties participated. While all other members of the Election Broadcasting Consortium (CBC and CTV National Networks, Global Television, and the Quebec broadcaster) failed to broadcast the 1993 program after announcing they would, in both the 1993 and 2000 the one hour debates were carried on CBC Newsworld and the debates and another hour of town hall questions and answers afterword on CPAC (English: Cable Public Affairs Channel and in French: La Chaîne d'affaires publiques par câble). The 2000 Debate was also covered extensively on CP-24 and it was the first of its kind broadcast and archived on the Internet on the Democracy Channel® website http://democracychannel.net and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljrYJ2zMFac
In 2000 he applied for Canadian and US Trademarks for Democracy Channel® and in 2003 he obtained the United States Trade Mark Registration Number 2756761 and subsequently obtained the Canadian Trade Mark Registration Number TMA787729 as well.
In 1985 Greg ran as the Green Party of Ontario in the 1985 Ontario provincial election in Ottawa West and he left the Green Party to run as the Progressive Conservative (P.C.) Candidate in the 1987 Ontario provincial election in Ottawa Centre. In the 1990 Ontario provincial election he ran as the P.C. Candidate in Scarborough Ellesmere. Along time supporter of Mike Harris who he knew from his home town, in 1989 Greg worked to change the Party Constitution from a delegated convention to a one person one vote process. This change was key to Mike Harris winning the Leadership in 1990. After the election Greg won a party campaign award for election signs and material. His were traditional Party blue with a new twist, neon Green. A tireless fighter for Political reform and citizen referendum he supported these policies in the 1995 Ontario Election but did not run as a candidate and after Premier Harris formed a majority government when it became apparent the new government would not introduce referendum legislation or green policies he left the party. He was successful in writing one important Legislative change. In 2000 Premier Harris made contributions for political tax credits refundable for the poor. Previously only upper and middle income citizens got up to 75% refunds. This change did not help the Premiers P.C. Party whose members generally had taxable income and got the tax credits before.
In 1993 the Federal Progressive-Conservative, Liberal and New Democratic parties rigged the Canadian election laws and tried to have the Green Party of Canada de-registered and have its assets seized. Greg and Kathy lent the Party $25,000.00 for Candidate election campaign deposits in order to maintain the legal registry of the Green Party of Canada. They waited over ten years to get repaid.
Also in 1993, with financial support of Frank Stronach and Magna International he co-wrote the book Democracy, Eh? A guide to Voter Action, with John Deverell, a Toronto Star reporter. http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Eh-Guide-Voter-Action/dp/1895854156 In 1993 Greg and Kathy also started Online Direct, Vote Direct and Internet polling and election programs with the same TV networks they had previously fought. He simulcast political debates and election programs and created the world’s largest internet poll with CTV affiliate Baton Broadcasting for the 1995 Quebec Referendum. In 1997 Online Direct Foiled Canada's Election Poll Ban, when they found a way around an Elections Canada warning prohibiting the publishing of any polling results, by removing their Online Election polls from their website in Canada and publishing them on the Internet from Florida, U.S. based server, through election day, as reported by Wired Magazine in "Web Sites Foil Canada's Election Poll Ban." http://www.efc.ca/pages/media/wired-news.03jun97.html In 2000 they created the Knowledge Compass learning tool and search engine with (the late) Fred Weibe who had developed the “HYWY 101©” Knowledge Map between 1981 and 1999, and they started HYWY Corp. and HYWY Software Corp. which developed the HYWY PE:J Productivity Environment for JAVA, platform and vendor independent software for JAVA applications and licenced it to SUN Microsystems, Rational Software and IBM.
In 2002 he helped to convince the present Ontario Provincial Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty to make and keep an election promise for a Provincial Referendum on electoral reform and proportional representation. The provincial referendum was scheduled for October of 2007. On October 10th. 2007 the referendum was held concurrent with the Ontario General Election. The measure did not pass.
In November of 2006 CBC and CNN International broadcast items about their Hydrofuel technology. The news item may be viewed at http://www.gregvezina.ca or on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0hBAz6MxC4 Greg and Kathy restarted their lifelong endeavour to develop NH3 as an energy currency and automotive fuel. C.A.E.C.-Canadian Alternative Energy Corp. opened it's website http://www.nh3fuel.ca and Hydrofuel Inc. was started in Canada, the USA, the EU and Australia http://www.nh3fuel.com
In October 2007 Greg Vezina was a guest speaker at the 4th. Ammonia fuel conference in San Francisco, CA. A transcript of the speech may be linked to at that site http://www.energy.iastate.edu/Renewable/ammonia/ammonia/2007/Vezina_Transcript_NH3.pdf or http://www.energy.iastate.edu/Renewable/ammonia/ammonia/ammoniaMtg07.htm or the company website.
In March of 2010 Hydrofuel Inc. released a video of two new ammonia fuel conversions for vehicles and electrical power generators which can be seen at http://nh3fuel.com
In January of 2011, they released the original printed and new digital versions of the “HYWY 101©” Knowledge Map and several new digital search tools on the internet at http://vez.com or http://hywy101.com
During the 2014 Ontario General Election Greg founded and became leader of the None of the Above Direct Democracy Party of Ontario and ran as one of the eight founding candidates. Greg ran again in the Feb. 2016 Whitby-Oshawa by-election. Details on the NOTA Party are on their http://nota.ca website.
In 2018 the NOTA Party had candidates nominated in 42 of the 124 ridings (34%) for the Ontario General Election. The NOTA Party growth in four years from 8 candidates in 2014 to 42 in 2018 made it the fastest growing political party in modern history, accomplishing this in half the time it took the Green and Libertarian parties.
In October of 2015, Greg was listed in the Journal of Cleaner Production as a Co-Author of "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Various Ammonia Production Methods." This and several other research papers with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) have been published in other peer reviewed journals and the AIChE journal from the 2017 convention. In 2018 the UOIT and Hydrofuel Inc. research including "MITACS PHASE 3 - Comprehensive Evaluation of NH3 Production and Utilization Options for Clean Energy Applications" was included in the 5,540 page, $4,400 USD "Comprehensive Energy Systems". All of the research is available on the Hydrofuel Inc. website at https://nh3fuel.com.
At the June 18, 2019, Greg Vezina, Chairman of Hydrofuel Inc. spoke about 150 year history of #Ammonia energy CUTRIC hydrogen mobility conference in Mississauga. https://vimeo.com/343229960
At the same conference he announced a three year commercial demonstration project for two Diesel fuel generators and trucks provided by TFX International Auto Transport to be powered by cleaner NH3 fuel. http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/diesel-fuel-generators-and-trucks-to-be-powered-by-cleaner-nh3-fuel/8537705/
In 2019 Greg ran in the Federal election as an Independent candidate as the NOTA party was unable to get officially registered well in advance in accordance with onerous rules not applicable to provincial parties. After the City again attempted to exclude him from a proposed candidate debate on public property organized by the Mayor and City of Mississauga at city council chambers in city hall, as was the case in the 2018 Ontario election, he went to court seeking an injunction against further exclusion, and after the City solicitor assured there would not be a debate and the previously scheduled one was canceled, the Ontario Court did not grant the injunction but it did rule it unconstitutional to exclude any candidates from election debates on public property, with Ontario Superior Court Justice James Stribopoulos finding, "To be sure, if the City were to organize candidates' debates... and decide to invite certain candidates to participate, while excluding others... I would not hesitate in granting... injunctive relief.” https://www.einpresswire.com/article/499119476/ontario-court-says-it-s-unconstitutional-to-exclude-any-candidates-from-election-debates-on-public-property
Decision October 11, 2019, Ontario Superior Court: Vezina v. City of Mississauga, 2019 ONSC 5925 (CanLII) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2019/2019onsc5925/2019onsc5925.html
Kathy and Greg are also developing new Learning, "alternative health" and well-being modalities. They continue to push the envelope and show how enlightened self interest can be used for the common good.
Greg and Kathy will release new book "Ammonia Solutions for Pollution", which will be published and released in written and electronic formats in 2020. The electronic version will be available free on the Internet. Both Hardcover and Paperback versions of the book will be available with customized author signatures and notes.