Courage to Renew, Courage to Care
- First Vice Chair of the Green City Council Group, City Councillor and member of the City Board in Helsinki.
- Lead specialist on issues related to business, skills and immigration. Master of Education and primary school teacher.
- 38-year-old mother of two preschool children and bonus mother of two teenagers, living in Herttoniemenranta.
I am defending good growth. I want to pursue politics where work pays off, companies have room to grow and every child receives a good education. Politics that understands that a well-functioning market economy, education, work, caring for nature and respecting other people are not opposites. They are the foundation of wellbeing. To put it bluntly and without sugarcoating: Finland does not need more gloom. It needs more growth, work and faith in the future. For me, politics is above all about solving problems, not shouting around them.
Explore My Thoughts
A value-based choice must be made in strengthening public finances: children are to be excluded from the cuts.
The future of Finland is built in schools. That is why it is essential to dare to invest in children, learning and competence even when public finances are being adjusted.
- Strengthen order and peace in schools and increase small groups
- Raise the level of requirements in schools and vocational education
- Reduce children’s lonely afternoons and invest in daycare centres.
A welfare society needs work and people who dare to employ others.
The goal is that in Finland accepting work, doing work, entrepreneurship and hiring are all more profitable than they are now. The shortage of skilled workers must not become an obstacle to business growth.
- Reduce taxation on work
- Increase flexibility in the labour market
- Make skills development more agile
Finland cannot save its way into growth. New companies, investments, technology and the courage to renew the economy are needed. Growth does not have to mean abandoning environmental goals; at best, economic renewal and the green transition go hand in hand.
- Invest in business-driven innovation
- Welcome international experts. Yes to growth, no to racism!
- Ensure that economic renewal and the green transition go hand in hand
Now this is the topic
In Helsinki, a daycare place for every child
Early childhood education is a child’s right and promotes learning, yet some children are still completely left out of it. Under Suvi’s leadership, Helsinki implemented a model based on which every child will be guaranteed a daycare place no later than the year they turn five. In addition, Helsinki will start developing more consistent daycare and school pathways.
Work stuff
Watch the discussion: Suvi on YLE Morning talking about young people’s working life skills as an expert from the Finland Chamber of Commerce.
Listen to the interview: In the “Pihvi” programme by Uusi juttu, Suvi explains why the decline in PISA results is a concern for the business community.
Read the co-written article: In a guest column in Helsingin Sanomat, Suvi describes what solution-oriented and progressive immigration policy looks like.
Articles & Columns
The difficult question of care funding: An article co-written with Atte Harjanne for Verde magazine on how the funding of care could be resolved as the population ages and public finances are under pressure.
The discussion on the topic was continued also in Talouselämä.
Why am I in politics?
Politics is a calling because its impact is visible every day in daycare yards, workplaces and families’ everyday lives. With a background as a primary school teacher, I now work at the Central Chamber of Commerce with companies’ skills needs. Through this work, it is possible to see very concretely what kind of future is being built for children and young people. As a mother and bonus mother, there is deep concern for learning peace in schools, resources in daycare centres and children’s wellbeing.
Coming from an entrepreneurial family and working closely with businesses brings an understanding of the importance of risk-taking, work and responsibility. There has been a front-row seat to how companies are founded, grow and sometimes also fail. That is why it is important that Finland is a country where it pays to work, to be an entrepreneur and to employ others. But also a country where people stand together even when life does not go according to plan.
For more than ten years, responsibility has been carried in various political roles, from setting up election tents to working behind the scenes for the party leader. Now the work continues at the heart of decision-making in Helsinki, in the City Board and as the first vice chair of the council group. Over the years it has become clear that sustainable solutions are created by listening, delving into information, and making decisions that stand the test of time beyond the next elections. Politics is not an identity, but a tool: a way to fix injustices and build a more functional society.
Every child and young person should have the opportunity to learn, feel well, and find their own path, regardless of background or postal code. This is the reason this work is done. By bringing together education, work, the environment, and economic realities, it is possible to build a Finland where future generations can live better than the current one, and where they have the freedom to choose their own future.
