by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Eric “Roach” Denis

Age: 26

Occupation: Political candidate/filmmaker

Bio: This feisty East End go-getter once starred in the Daniel Cross doc, S.P.I.T.—an excellent film about our fair city’s under-appreciated squeegee punk scene. Today, this former jailbird, junkie, teenage runaway and, of course, squeegee punk is running for office as an independent candidate in the Outremont riding. Although he claims to have always been political, this election will not only be his debut foray into the political arena as a candidate, but also the first time he has been so moved as to actually cast his vote. “After the Gomery commission I realized we were just being led by a gang of criminals, the same people who try to criminalize people from the street, and all of this put together pissed me off enough to make me wanna run. So I am.”

What his future political party will be called: La Partie Économique Nationale Indépendantiste Socialiste. “Get it? Put it all together and [the acronym] is P.É.N.I.S.” Go to http://roachcam.ca for more info.

Why he’s running in Outremont: “Because I want to expose [Liberal candidate] Jean Lapierre, who’s obviously an opportunist because he’s gone back and forth from the Bloc to the Liberals. Also, people think fuckin’ Outremont is only rich people, but look around Van Horne and Parc, it’s all pretty much skid row. [Yet] there’s only one food bank here, and it’s closed during the winter time!”

Something Roach would really like to see implemented at the federal level: Proportional representation.

One key element of society Roach is hoping will turn out in droves to vote for him: The homeless. “I’m really trying to bring the homeless vote out this election. So I’m out there getting them to register. Only if they want to, of course. I’m not going to force them to come out.”

One of the ways he hopes to mobilize the influential but surprisingly overlooked homeless vote: Through his Web site, http://homelessnation.org.

Does he know if many homeless people own Blackberrys or have wi-fi access on their laptop computers? “No, but they have access to the Internet at shelters. And, of course, we’re hitting the streets too.”

How he’d deal with the issue of teen homelessness: “I don’t know what the exact solution is, but I know it’s not putting them in jail. Maybe if they could be sent to some type of camp or something, that would be better.”

Should these camps be similar to the European variety of the early 1940s? “No, but some place where they’d teach them sports, jobs, whatever. Juvie is a camp, a working camp. They had me working in the woods for, like, 20 cents an hour. And they have the right to do that because [once you’re incarcerated] you’re under the control of the… this thing or that thing or some fuckin’ law.”

Musical preferences: Hank Williams, Johnny Cash.

Childhood ambition: To become Jesus.

Last book read: Worth Fighting For, by Sheila Copps.

Words of wisdom: “Vote with your heart and ideas, not strategically.”

Comments? dimwit@hdot.net