For Immediate Release
LUMBY — Effective today, Huguette Allen resigns as Okanagan-Shuswap Green Party candidate. Allen was nominated candidate in March 2007 and ran federally in 2008 and again provincially in 2009, both times increasing the Green vote by 400%. Read the rest of this entry »
Letter to the Morning Star by John Lewis
I believe it is inappropriate to pick on our MP Colin Mayes. It is not his fault that he has no grasp of the climate change issue much less any ideas regarding how it might be dealt with.
It is not his fault that he sees no problem in the federal government ducking its responsibilities in these difficult times and with so many important questions outstanding.
He was not elected to represent us, no MP is. He was elected because we wanted a Conservative government and he was, as Pierre Berton described MPs, the “trained seal” the party put forward.
If we had wanted an MP to represent us, who understood the issues, who had solid ideas about how they could be economically dealt with, and had the best interests of the country and the people at heart we would have voted for Huguette Allen regardless of the party she represents.
But we preferred to support the powerful vested interests and the status quo. We voted for a party not an MP. So stop picking on Colin, he may be a party hack but he’s the party hack we wanted and have no right to expect any better from him.
L.J. Lewis,
Coldstream
Bruce Anderson
Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bruce-anderson/will-greens-shift/article1347251/
Lots of people think politics is a blood sport, but it’s a rare week when that is more than a metaphor. The environment can stir emotions. As far as I am concerned, it was a bad week for environmentalists.
Yelling from the gallery of the House of Commons, being dragged out kicking and screaming, is pretty tired.
Worse still, all the speculation that this was an NDP tactic more than a group of non-partisans anxious about the planet. Read the rest of this entry »
The logic of not voting for a candidate because the candidate doesn’t appear to be the one that is going to be elected serves no purpose.
In fact, I am a candidate for the Green Party in the east central part of Alberta. The chances I will be elected are slim. Why do I run then? I run because democracy does not… WILL NOT… work if we all do not stand up and take part in honest, open, respectful discourse about what we want this country to be.
Like you (even though I am a candidate), I do not agree with every Green policy. But that is the magic of this party. All candidates can differ on points of policy to some degree and this party is okay with that. The Green Party wants me to be accountable to the people I will represent… to the people in my community… to the culture of my community… to the traditions of my community. The Green Party allows for the democratic process to move to a place where the will of individuals and the representatives they elect to make their honest views part of our democratic debate.
Running in a federal election costs me a great deal: time away from my farm… my family… my volunteer activities and my job (ie. my salary). It costs me in a big way, but I do it because I want the democratic process to work. I want to give people options. When I hear people (particularly young people) tell me they would not vote for me even if they think I am the best candidate simply because they perceive my electability as low… I am truly saddened.
In a nutshell. Vote for who you believe best represents the voice you want heard in Parliament. To do anything else is dishonest… to Canada… to your community… and to yourself.
William Munsey
Green Candidate
Constituency of Vegreville-Wainwright (Alberta)
Looks more and more as if Elizabeth May will run in Saanich Gulf Islands during next elections!
There have been many comments, some positive, some negative concerning why our leader might run in Saanich Gulf Islands. Even though her personal choice would have been to stay near her roots, she said she would gladly run in SGI if convinced it presented the best winning option and because she loves BC and has a long history of campaigning for wilderness in BC. Read the rest of this entry »
STEWART ELGIE and DAVID BOYD AND CHRIS WADDELL
The Globe and Mail
Unlike the Vancouver Canucks, B.C.’s carbon tax managed to stave off elimination last week. Although widely regarded – by both environmentalists and economists – as an essential tool in growing green jobs and combatting climate change, many Canadian politicians perceived carbon taxes as toxic after Stéphane Dion’s defeat. The results of this week’s B.C. election should help put that notion to rest.
Canada has now had two elections in the past seven months – one federal one provincial – in which a carbon tax figured prominently in the campaign, with very different results. Mr. Dion and the federal Liberals put a carbon tax (the Green Shift) at the centre of their campaign and were soundly defeated. In B.C., Gordon Campbell’s 2008 carbon tax also became a major campaign issue and his Liberals were comfortably re-elected.
What can we learn from these seemingly contradictory election outcomes? Here are six main lessons.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090515.wcocarbon18/BNStory/specialComment/home
Recent Comments