Archive for News

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

FCM applauds the Green Party of Canada´s strong support of Canadian cities and communities as outlined in their election platform. Their commitment to provide longer term infrastructure funding would help municipalities address the $123 billion infrastructure deficit and build a greener economy.
Hans Cunningham, President, FCM

Read the full statement on the FCM’s site.

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

The Pembina institute has issued strong support for the Green Party platform in a new analysis.

A Nanos poll conducted for the Globe and Mail confirms what was obvious to pretty much everyone: Canadians want Elizabeth May in the debate even if they don’t support the Green Party.

Richard Muller has led a team of statisticians and physicists to review temperature data, hoping to debunk climate science.  The project was funded by oil billionaire Koch brothers.  But as careful scientists, Muller’s team have instead been forced to admit at a Congressional panel that the data seem to indicate the opposite — climate change is real and the work of climate scientists has been accurate.

We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children.

I am inspired by the visionaries who populate the Green Party and the hope and the fear that drives us all.  But getting anything done about it requires simple hard work.  And that’s what this campaign is all about.  Hard work by dedicated people making careful steps for the better.     Read more »

2011 October 6 provincial election

Candidates in the 2011 October 6 provincial election, in reverse alphabetical order of family name, because that puts Tim Whalley first:

• Tim Whalley, Green Party of Ontario.
• Stéphane Vera, Freedom Party of Ontario.
• Peter Tabuns, Ontario NDP/NPD.
• Marisa Sterling, Ontario Liberal Party.
• John Richardson, Canadians’ Choice Party.
• John Christopher Recker, Ontario Libertarian Party.
• Rita Jethi, PC Party of Ontario.
• Kevin Clarke, The People

The Elections Ontario website has the official list of registered candidates.

2011 May 2 federal election

Candidates in the 2011 May 2 federal election, in alphabetical order of given name, because that puts Adriana first:     Read more »

I’ve been stunned by the number of people walking into our office, many not even Green Party supporters, asking what they can do to help Elizabeth get into the debates.

Here’s what you can do:  Sign the petition.  Find out more.

I have 18 boxes of cards sitting in the campaign office, ready to be handed out to the public.  I can’t wait to start.

I’m exhausted.  I had to take over the office today because my campaign manager had other non-campaign duties.  He had thought he could do them while managing the campaign, but it has just been too busy.

We have had a tremendous response from people outraged at Elizabeth’s exclusion from the debates.  Even non-Green voters are walking into the office and asking who they can write to  in order to get Elizabeth in.

The campaign feels good.  Positive and wonderful.  I hope and expect sense to prevail.  Elizabeth will be in the debates.

Didn’t have a computer with me last night so I’m updating now.  My husband and campaign manager has had back problems for the last week so moving is painful.  He’s also averaged four hours of sleep a night through this time.  But he’s working full time on the campaign.

I registered in the morning.  Everything seems to be in order but as of last night I was not yet confirmed.  It takes time.  Everything takes time.  Thanks to Clara who dragged herself out of bed early to spend the day helping me out.

I was part of a panel of speakers in the evening at the Post Carbon Toronto AGM.  Somehow I was also elected back onto the Executive as well.  The office is looking great and working better and better.  Materials should be coming in soon.  Jo’s daughter Meghan decorated the window display and Charlie says the team had a fabulous meeting last night while I was out at my talk.

On this World Water Day, the focus is on the growing challenges of delivering water to cities, particularly as local climates are stressed by climate change.  In many parts of the world, the water, climate and urban crises are intertwined.  Climate impacts are a factor driving people to cities, often because of local droughts.  Many cities are feeling the pressures of inadequate water infrastructure, and quite simply not enough water to go around.

We are blessed in Toronto with a secure supply of safe water, so for us this is a day to be grateful, to pause for a moment to consider those who are not so lucky, and to consider what we can do.

My heartfelt sympathies go out to the Japanese people, and all Japanese-Canadians for the hardships and sorrows following yesterday’s earthquake and tsunami, today’s explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and continued worries about 3 reactors which have not yet been stabilized. Details are sketchy now, but the whole world is watching and hoping that the situation is stabilized soon.

A few years ago, Elizabeth May said that we need to plan cities around the child, instead of around the car.  There’s now a movement around 8-80 cities that calls on cities to be planned with two groups of people in mind – 8 year olds and 80 year olds.  The theory is that if you take care of the young and old, the able-bodied in between will be able to look after themselves.  It’s a compassionate approach to community building with the goal of safe streets, local economies and cohesive neighbourhoods, rather than maximum mobility.  And it’s very much at the heart of what the Green Party is all about.

From the Globe and Mail:     Read more »

Bob Hepburn, in The Star, suggests:     Read more »

In clear pre-election mode, this last Wednesday evening, Jack Layton held a live over-the-phone “town hall” meeting, where he answered questions in real time and polled listeners on their priorities.  It was a great way to outreach to the community and worked quite well.  If elected, I’ll keep that in mind as a way to engage people who prefer the comfort of their own home.  But I’d also like to have in-person town halls and simply attend meetings with local groups.     Read more »

I’ve just been alerted to an article by Gwynne Dyer, who anticipates increasing food riots globally.  We may be sheltered from actual rioting in Canada for a while, though we won’t be spared the rising prices.  And of course, the global destabilization involved will have inevitable impacts on Canada long before we face actual shortages here.

Elizabeth May calls on the Canadian Government to urge Hosni Mubarak to resign as President of Egypt.

سياسات حزب الخضر من كندا هي ترتكز على ستة مبادئ اساسية هي …

Our government’s focus on carbon capture as a way of reducing emissions was always expensive.  Now it looks like it might not even work at all.     Read more »

There is a lot of noise being made today about the Pembina Institute’s comparison of the Metrolinx and Mayor Rob Ford’s transit expansion plans.  The Toronto Star reported on it and the Toronto Environmental Alliance has been alerting its members to it as well.  Whether you prefer subways or light rail, you still have to conclude that Mayor Ford’s plan is inconsistent with his stand on reducing waste.  If you want subways to deliver anywhere close to the kind of service you can get from surface transit, you better be prepared for substantially higher taxes.

Meanwhile, George Monbiot in the United Kingdom is facing the identical nonsensical rhetoric of “ending the war against the car”, and writes as only he can:     Read more »

In visiting with people door-to-door, one of the most common grievances I hear is the worry from seniors about increasing difficulty just to make ends meet.  Often, seniors worry not only for themselves, but also about the burden they put on other family members.  Just before I left for Cancun and a month of worries about climate change followed by Christmas, Joe Friesen reported in the Globe and Mail that senior poverty in Canada had jumped 25% during the economic crisis.  The picture he paints is exactly in line with the experiences I hear about.  We need to address senior poverty.  Working towards the Green Party’s visions for valuing seniors and eliminating poverty would be a start.

UPDATE — While the number of seniors who slipped into poverty increased by 25%, it turns out CEOs were making more than ever – more in just a day’s worth of work than most Canadians make all year.