Greg Bonser

Greg Bonser is a Toronto political activist and entrepreneur.
Bonser was active in the Green Party of Ontario from 1996 to 2003, serving on the provincial council for two terms, as the operations coordinator for one term. During that time, he was the creator of what was later called the Bonser Method, a meeting operations and voting protocol developed to develop policy at face to face meetings. This system is still in use today by the Green Party of Ontario as well as the national party and other provincial Green parties.
Bonser has run in numerous elections, most notably, for Toronto City Council in 2003 in Ward 30, for the seat vacated by Jack Layton. He did not win that election, but a question asked at an all candidates debate "if we had instant run off voting, where you voted for first, second and third choices, which other candidates would you vote for?" revealed that the top four candidates all chose Bonser as their second choice. (The moderator did not let the candidates answer in front of the crowd, so the questioner asked individual candidates after the meeting).
Bonser had numerous articles written on him and his work in the Toronto Star, NOW, Eye Weekly and other local Toronto print media and has made TV appearances on news segments for Global Toronto, CBC Television, CBC Radio and TVOntario on the topics of green building, energy policy, and ecological health issues.
In 2010 Bonser was sued by the purchasers of high performance building condominium unit he built on Queen St. East for $900 000. The statement of claim alleges that Bonser, who designed and built most of the project himself, marketed the project as a “cutting-edge green building containing the latest environmentally friendly technology and features.” The building contains insulation levels higher than required by the building code, above code windows, energy recycling (drain heat recovery and ERVs), solar hot water systems and a ground source heating an cooling system. The building was also 'custom built' to escalating and shifting standards of the purchasers.
Owners were upset that the project took longer than expected, and that it went over budget. The lawsuit claims the building did not comply with the Ontario building code, though a Building Permit was issued, and licensed structural engineers supervised construction, and the City Building Inspector and Electrical Safety Authority Inspectors were routinely on site inspecting the work.
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