Running in Toronto Centre

green party, toronto

I’m very excited by the possibility of serving again as your candidate in Toronto Centre. I’m proud of what we accomplished in the last election, and I’m encouraged by the knowledge that we can do even better in the next.

In the next election we will no longer be debating whether or not there is a need for action. We’ve won that battle. Now, we must convince voters that our solutions are the best for Toronto Centre, the country, and the planet. In fact, I believe that the Green Party is currently the only party that can succeed in solving the various environmental crisis we face, because we are the only party that’s willing to look at them holistically.

In the next election we will need a fulltime candidate, a fulltime campaign manager, an office, and a dedicated team of volunteers. Not only will I campaign fulltime on your behalf, over the past several months I have been assembling a fantastic team, including database managers, web administrators, communications experts, and a fulltime campaign manager, Becky Smit, who in the last election achieved the highest result in all of Toronto.

I’ve also enjoyed building strong relationships with community leaders all over our riding. Several of those leaders who organized local debates in the last election are now supporting my candidacy in one way or another.

If you have any questions between now and the nomination meeting, please contact me. I have limited access to email this week, but am looking forward to hearing from you and will get back to you as soon as I can.

By the way, you’re more than welcome at the nomination meeting whether you’re a member or not. Even if you just want to find out more about the party, this is a great opportunity to do so. The meeting is on Wednesday January 24th, 7pm, at 110 Lombard St. See you there!

There’s Something Happening Here

climate crisis, ecology, toronto

In 1988, over 300 scientists and policy-makers from 46 different countries and organizations came together to discuss the crisis of climate change in Toronto. It was called “The Toronto Conference,” and their final statement began with the following sentence.

Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment, whose ultimate consequence could be second only to a global nuclear war.

This week, thousands of birds fell from the sky in Australia, dead. As of now, we don’t yet know why.

In Green politics, there’s something called the precautionary principal. Basically, it states that if there’s a chance that a series of actions could, for example, shut down our life support systems, we should maybe not take those actions until we’re sure they’re safe (as opposed to conducting business as usual until there’s absolute proof that business as usual is destructive). In other words, even if things ain’t exactly clear, it’s still worth stopping, listening, and looking around.

Bird deaths can’t help but remind me of the proverbial canary in the mineshaft. Problem is, unlike miners, we don’t have anywhere to run to once we notice the canary has stopped breathing.

For what it’s worth.

11%

green party, ndp, polls

You really shouldn’t pay attention to polls. They distract from real issues. They unduly influence elections. They contribute to strategic voting. They’re not good for your health.

Except, of course, when you’re doing really well in them. Then they’re kinda fun.

A new Environics poll out yesterday has the Green Party of Canada at 11% nationally. From the release:

The other noticeable trend is the continued growth in support for the Green Party (now at 11%, up 4 since Sept-October, and up 7 since June). Over the same period, support for the New Democratic Party has declined to 14 percent of Canadian voters (down 4 points since Sept-October, and down 7 points since June).

Presented for your information.

Wrath of Khan

conservative party, democracy and good government, foreign affairs, liberal party

Back in August, I supported Bill Graham’s decision to allow Wajid Khan to serve as a special adviser to Stephen Harper on the Middle East and Afghanistan, arguing that “we need more cross-party cooperation and dialogue, not less — especially in a minority government situation.”

In the wake of Khan’s defection to the Conservatives, I stand by that principal. In fact, the CBC reports that it was Stéphane Dion’s insistence that Khan pick a side that forced the move. Dion also made a statement to the Liberal website, saying, “I was never comfortable with Mr. Khan serving as an adviser to a Conservative Prime Minister, as Mr. Khan has done since August of last year.” Other Liberal MPs had “questioned how Khan would balance his allegiance to the party with his new role as an adviser to the prime minister.”

The fact that the obvious answer, “he’ll do whatever he thinks is best for the country,” didn’t seem obvious doesn’t speak well to our MPs’ assessments of each other’s motives. (Nor, unfortunately, of Dion’s.)

That being said, Khan’s assessment that “the best leader for Canada is the man who now has the job” isn’t doing much for my opinion of him either.