Author archive

How to recognize insurgents who threaten democracy.

Our family just celebrated the first night of Hanukkah with menorah, latkes, dreidels and other games.  May your holidays be filled with light and happiness.

The Green Party has for many years been promoting a guaranteed annual income (GAI).  It should be more economical than the hodgepodge of existing income support programmes, it will capture people who aren’t served by the current system (such as caregivers for family members who need round-the-clock support), and it addresses the dignity that every Canadian deserves.     Read more »

I’ve been following the COP17 climate change conference in Durban, South Africa from right here in Riverdale.  This will be a long, rambling omnibus post on my thoughts and concerns.     Read more »

On this day, let us remember, reflect, and re-commit to war no more.

For those who want to mark this day a little differently, the soldier’s tower in Hart House is open every year on this day.  It’s an opportunity not just to remember those young people who lost their lives for Canada, but to see a lovely historic corner of the city.  The tower was built in 1923-24, originally to remember those young university students who lost their lives in the first world war.  Standing at 143 feet in height, it is still an imposing reminder to University of Toronto students today.

I’ve been following the “Occupy Toronto” movement that’s powered by youth and hope in a world of corruption and decadence.  I hope that it will prove to be the catalyst for the new ideas we need to take us forward.

This movement is occurring in a context.  Though many of the participants may be unaware of it, there is a fairly obvious underlying reason for the rising levels of anger.     Read more »

The Toronto-based group For Our Grandchildren has produced this wonderful video:

For Our Grandchildren – Something Must Be Done from Stephen Best on Vimeo.

If the video stutters, click on the HD in the lower-right-hand corner.  Even in “low-def”, it’s quite high-definition.

We’re now less than a month away from provincial election day. We’ve got a big team of volunteers helping Tim Whalley, our Green Party of Ontario candidate. But we always need more. Please let us know if you can help out in any way. There’s lots of fun, easy ways to help, either with a group of people together or on your own time at home. Here’s your first volunteer task: request a sign.

Happy new year to all Ethiopian Canadians.  May the year now beginning be blessed with peace, justice, health and prosperity.

I was honoured to address Ethiopian Canadians yesterday at their festival in Christie Pits park.  Wonderful food, music and dancing were on offer and I stayed most of the afternoon.

የካናዳ ግሪን ፓርቲ መመሪያዎች በስድስት መርሆዎች ላይ የተመሠረቱ ናቸው፤ …

Yesterday, I represented the Green Party in Toronto-Danforth for the trophy distribution ceremony for the East York Soccer Club.  Many hundreds of children participate in this wonderfully inclusive and supportive organization.  I personally sponsored a team there this year, and the Green Party of Canada riding association sponsored another.  It’s easy to get involved.  Go here.

Here I am talking to the team I sponsored, waiting our turn:

I went on to the Vegetarian Food Fair on Friday night.

There are films, good music and great food in almost obscene quantities.

Find out more here.

Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair
Fri – Sun, 2011 September 9 – 11
Harbourfront Centre,
235 Queen’s Quay West

I previously wrote about Patricia Warwick, one of the “Fabulous 45″ – so named because although they came to Washington expecting to face a $100 “post and forfeit” for defying the rules of the park in front of the White House, they discovered that those arrested the previous day were to be held for 3 days.  The 45 risked arrest anyway.

The actions against the Keystone XL pipeline (which would enable a vast expansion in the capacity for oil production from the tar sands) at the White House continued for another 12 days after Patricia’s arrest, with over 1200 arrests in total, including east Toronto residents Sharon Howarth, the Green Party of Canada candidate in Toronto-Danforth in the 2008 federal election and David Wilson, an oil industry retiree.  Tar Sands Action, which organized this demonstration, vows to continue working to oppose the pipeline

The action against the Keystone XL Pipeline is now moving to Canada, where activists are planning a sit-in on September 26. You can find out more and join here.

Toronto-Danforth Greens extend their sympathy to Jack Layton’s family and to his NDP family and supporters.  Jack will always be remembered in this community as a tireless fighter, a passionate spokesperson, a man who loved Canada and inspired everyday heroes.

Update: Read Patricia’s first-hand report.

Toronto-Danforth resident and climate activist Patricia Warwick was just arrested in Washington D.C. while opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, which is to allow for the expansion of tar sands operations in Canada.  President Obama is to reject or approve the plan later this year.

The “mug shot” photo was taken by the group Tar Sands Action.  And here she is at the protest, in the red behind the sign, in a big sun hat:

Patricia’s arrest was covered in the Globe and Mail and Ottawa Citizen, where she was quoted as saying,     Read more »

Elizabeth May confronts the government on its twisting of reality in her first press conference as an MP, pointing out that the world demands a continuation of Kyoto.

I have often thought of reversing the way that proportional representation is calculated and applying it to the MPs already in Parliament.

The one Green seat represents almost 580,000 votes.  166 Conservative seats represent 5.8 million votes.  So while each Conservative MP represents just over 35,000 voters, Elizabeth May represents 580,000.

Therefore one Green is worth 16 Conservatives.     Read more »

Elizabeth’s question regarding the budget was smart.  Watch the Conservative member avoid the question.  He does not answer why the government perversely chose to trim the most democratic and fair form of public finance for political parties.  The Conservatives like the subsidies that give rich people the majority of their money back when they contribute to political parties, but would deny the funding that goes to parties people vote for even when they can’t afford to contribute.

You can get a good explanation of what is going on here.

I have never been prouder to be a Green.  Bravo to Elizabeth, the only member of Parliament who refused to support the escalation of war in Libya.

Today, Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller slammed the Liberals for cutting hydro bills by ten percent, identifying the measure as a perverse subsidy.  He stated:

The problem with the 10 per cent (cut) is it means the people who use the most energy get the most money back and that is a disincentive, a perverse incentive.  It rewards and encourages increased consumption.

He then went on to criticize both the NDP and Conservatives for pledging to remove the HST from hydro bills.     Read more »

If you watch through to the end of this short video, it covers why I entered politics.  What is now at stake is food security, water security, and the ability to deliver the fundamentals of decent civil society.  All of these are already stressed and becoming more so.  Concerns about things like gas prices, while important in our current state of addiction, nonetheless need to be contextualized in a world of threats that are far, far greater.

The news from Japan keeps getting worse.  Now it is reported that not only did the reactor core melt down, not only did it breach the pressure vessel, but it now appears that the material has penetrated the reactor building itself and seeped into the ground.  That is close to the worst case scenario.  Clean-up costs are now estimated at $250 billion, and that will not bring things back to normal.  It will still mean living with elevated cancer rates, particularly in Japan, but spreading all over the world.  And Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has asked to close Hamaoka, another nuclear power plant that has been deemed not to be earthquake safe.

All of the costs for this disaster are being borne by the public.  The Japanese government will absorb all the costs of clean-up, relocation and health impacts.  Governments throughout the world will also be paying for the elevated health care costs arising from the increased rates of cancer in their countries.  These will continue for many decades.  Every other form of power generation is self-insuring.  The nuclear industry clearly does not deserve this free ticket as nuclear power is inherently dangerous.

Even Canada’s traditional allies like Australia tore into our report to the UN, pointing out that our reporting, our goals and the measures taken to attain these goals were all hopelessly inadequate.  They also charged that Canada is ignoring the elephant in the room, the tar sands, which are a large and growing proportion of our emissions.

About a week after the election, I wrote what I worried might be too strident a post and finally published it now.  Someone has to hold the NDP accountable.  Their climate policy is possibly the worst of all parties, as they continually find creative new ways to subsidize fossil fuels.     Read more »

The NDP have now grown up into a mainstream, increasingly centrist party nickel-and-diming the poor for their vote and misleading on the environment.  I’m deeply disturbed by their success in Toronto-Danforth.

Over a week has passed since the night while I watched in horror as the Harper government got its majority coupled with the relatively minor shock of seeing the Green vote collapse in Toronto-Danforth despite the widely acknowledged strongest campaign we have ever had.

Nationally I am most concerned about a majority government which clearly caters to oil industry priorities.  In Toronto-Danforth specifically, I’m concerned about the success the NDP has had with convincing voters with timid and contradictory policies that will do little for climate change and will hurt the constituents the party has professed to care about in the past.  I ran a campaign promoting the positive aspects of the Green plan without challenging the obvious defects of NDP policies.  But it’s clear to me now that these need to be made explicit.

I had never expected to win in the NDP leader’s riding this time around, but I did hope for a strong Green vote to pressure Jack Layton and the NDP to improve their climate change policies and address some of the priorities of Green voters.  That didn’t happen, so I need people who care about the Green Party, the thousands who told me that they were considering voting Green, to help put the pressure on the NDP to get it right.

It’s time to stop mincing words.  The stakes are simply far too high.     Read more »