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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 »

Further to a discussion with someone who was convinced that hydraulic fracturing for shale gas was perfectly safe (see comments here), there is now a peer-reviewed study linking the practice with methane in the drinking water supply nearby.

I’ve cleaned out the office (though I still need to fetch the signs), I’ve spent most of yesterday sleeping.  Yesterday, I also canvassed again for the first time since the election.  I will have to develop new strategies but reaching out to constituents will remain an important part of what I do.  But today, I just want to wish all mothers out there a joyous day with their children.  It is children who drive me.  It is children whose eyes and smiles invariably make me think that I must work harder.  And it is my protective mothering instinct that motivates my energies.  So this day is very special, for all of us Greens.     Read more »

This note was written on May 1 by Sarah Kitai, the daughter of one of our exceptional, dedicated candidates, Georgina Wilcock from Don Valley West, and reflects a lot of the feelings many of us have felt.  Election battles seem to be all about soundbites and jabs and media attention.  Unsatisfying results affect all parties but it is particularly hard on Greens, because what we’re fighting for is not just seats or even a political vision – we’re fighting for a Parliament that supports humanity.  The stakes really are that high, and it really is true that every other party is fundamentally compromised.  Georgina, wrap Sarah in your arms and tell her you will never stop fighting for her future.

So, as our 41st federal election nears its inevitable conclusion, it seems appropriate to reflect on the highs and lows of the campaign. It has certainly been a long five weeks.

I’ll start with the positives. I have not yet heard a single constituent deny the existence of climate change, or dismiss the environment as an issue not worthy of our attention. While rarely discussed in the media, these are nevertheless serious concerns on the minds of most Canadians. At the door, I’ve met intelligent, upstanding citizens with an appreciation of democracy and well-informed political opinions.     Read more »

Elizabeth May did get elected.

International Energy Agency Chief Fatih Birol has stated that the IEA now believes that global crude oil production peaked in 2006.  It’s all downhill from now.  We can expect the kinds of supply discontinuities and price rises that led up to the 2008 economic downturn with regularity from now on.

So what is the US response?  Shoot the messenger.  They have cut funding to their own national energy agency and specifically ordered that agency not to prepare data on oil and gas reserves.  Keep us in the dark, that’s the ticket.  I expect the Harper government to follow suit shortly.     Read more »

Chris Kitching followed me along canvassing, and then wrote this article for CP24.com.  It uses my experience as a jumping off point to delve into the various motivations for underdog candidates.

Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu, the Green Party's candidate in Toronto-Danforth, speaks to a man while campaigning for votes at Pape Station recently. Mugnatto-Hamu is in a David vs. Goliath-like battle against the riding's incumbent MP, NDP leader Jack Layton. (CP24/Chris Kitching)

Going toe-to-toe with an incumbent is always a challenge. The task is even more daunting when the reigning MP has a star profile that rivals that of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

So, why are these so-called minnows bothering to invest so much time, energy and money in a short-lived campaign when a landslide defeat is likely?

For Mugnatto-Hamu, a Green Party candidate, she relishes the opportunity to push the agenda of an emerging political party and engage voters on the topic that is most important to her — climate change.

“At one stage I realized that the threats to my children were far more serious, so I was compelled to run,” Mugnatto-Hamu told CP24.com recently as she campaigned for votes at a bustling Pape Station. “I want to change policy and this is one way to change policy.”

Read the whole article on CP24.com.

Advance voting opens today, Earth Day.  What better way of celebrating than by voting for the Earth?

Advance polls are open Easter weekend
Friday, 2011 April 22, noon – 8 pm
Saturday, 2011 April 23, noon – 8 pm
Monday, 2011 April 25, noon – 8 pm

To find your advance poll station, visit elections.ca,
type your postal code and press Go to find your riding,
and then click on Where do I vote?

Please.  Your Green vote will be noticed and will make a difference.  We need your help to change the direction of politics in Canada.

Everyone is welcome vote in the advance polls.

Election day remains Monday, May 2.

Nuclear is such a slow and costly climate solution, it actually reduces and retards climate protection.
Amory Lovins

Hear or read the interview with Amory Lovins.

Because I think the biggest threat to our survival comes from climate change, I would reluctantly embrace nuclear power if I thought it could help.  But it’s clear that building more nuclear capacity would be a dangerous diversion of time and money from far more effective approaches.  This is my talk at Climate Change Conference 2010, making that point:

I recently received the following question from John S, and similar questions from a few others.  The discussion continues in the comments.

Hi Adriana,

Would be interested to know why the “green”  party keeps delivering paper flyers to my home, ignoring the “no junk, no drop-offs” sign right beside my mail slot (AND the lawn sign for another candidate!)?  Your material comes with a several other pieces of junk mail I don’t want.     Read more »

Just had a Portuguese language interview with Sandro Miranda of PanTV.  He pointed me to a Brazilian campaign to reduce water use.  I have been impressed with the creativity of public campaigns in Brazil on AIDS, abuse of women, nutrition among the poor and other areas.  Brazil routinely achieves tremendous progress on the cheap.  Here’s how they are reducing water use:

I have been wanting to comment for days on the appalling response to flooding in First Nations communities.  Apparently the election is getting in the way of what was always an inadequate response.

This very much summarizes my experience in Cancún.

Watching the youth count the dead brought tears to my eyes now just as it did in Cancún

This moving video was made for Rebecca Harrison’s campaign.  Rebecca is busy as both the Green candidate in Whitby Oshawa and the Green Party’s Ontario Organizer.

Excluded from the leaders’ debate, Elizabeth shines under aggressive questioning on Elizabeth May, For the Record.

Afraid to debate Elizabeth May.

On Thursday, Elizabeth May revealed that the lawyer for the consortium of the five big broadcasters said they had excluded Elizabeth May for fear that the other leaders would boycott the debate.

Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe have now refused to debate Elizabeth.  They have declined a debate from an independent broadcaster.

The good news is that Channel Zero has agreed to do an exclusive interview with Elizabeth instead.  So you can get to hear what she has to say.

Live interview with Elizabeth May
Tonight: Sunday, 2011 April 10, 8pm
CHCH TV, chch.com     Read more »

Andrew Jackson, the chief economist of the Canadian Labour Congress, a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and lifelong NDP member, has declared that he may have to do a rethink.  As we have been saying, the Green Party platform is both bolder and more fair on the one hand, and more economical and efficient on the other.

Graham Saul, executive director of the Climate Action Network, has said:

this platform is the one that others will be measured against