Archive for Photos

Taken in the Autumn of 2011 by Steve Carty.

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Emma Richardson was born and raised in Toronto, benefitting from a first-rate public school education.  An economist by training, Emma completed a Master’s degree at the London School of Economics before working for five years with the United Nations in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.

In 2009, Emma moved back to Toronto with her husband Pablo and gave birth to her daughter, Sara Isabel, who now attends the local city daycare.  Emma is currently completing a PhD in public health at the University of Toronto.  She concurrently teaches about global health policy at the University of Toronto – Scarborough Campus and carries out consultancies in the development field.     Read more »

Ann Peel is endorsed by Mary Ann Grainger, former CEO of the Toronto-Danforth Green Party Assn and Campaign Manager of Toronto-Danforth’s 2008 federal election campaign; and Chris Lea, former leader of the Green Party of Canada.

Dear fellow Toronto-Danforth greens,

I’m not at home. I’m away on a trip and will miss the nomination meeting, but I am most pleased there will be a contest. For the last few years I have been impressed with the hard work of Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu but I am convinced that a change would be heathy and take us to a new level. After considering the candidates I would like to endorse Ann Peel to be our next candidate.

Chris Lea, former Leader, Green Party of Canada

Ann Peel writes:     Read more »

Update: Adriana was selected as our 2012 candidate from a field of three strong Green women.  She needs your help.

Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu is the Climate Change Critic for the Green Party of Canada and was the party’s local candidate for the 2011 general election. She has lived in Riverdale for 10 years with her husband Charlie and their children.  This community is her home and she will always work to make it more safe, beautiful and vibrant.

As part of a commitment to fight for a liveable world for her five children, Adriana joined the Green Party in 2005 and revitalized the riding association as the CEO.  Since then, she has been reaching out to the community, raising awareness of the climate crisis and promoting the policies necessary to address it.

As the Green Party candidate for the 2011 election, Adriana has canvassed the riding twice through.     Read more »

Pictures from our day at the farmers’ market.     Read more »

Saturday, 2011 September 24, noon-6pm
Queen’s Park, Toronto

Part of 350.org’s global day of action, Toronto hosts this event to celebrate the progress that Ontario has made on clean energy and to urge the government to go even further. The event will feature engaging speakers, including Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu at 3pm.

There will also be solar-powered live music, information booths and a Kid’s Zone with lots of fun activities. For more information visit the Moving Planet: Green Energy Field Day web site.

Update: Pictures and video from the event:

Adriana and Tim Whalley…

Also Penelope for Ontario, former Mayor David Miller, Sean-Patrick Stensil, Jose Etcheverry…      Read more »

Tuesday, 2011 September 20, 7 pm
Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute
(800 Greenwood Ave north of Danforth Ave)

Toronto-Danforth Trustee Cathy Dandy is holding a debate on Education and Tim Whalley, Green Party of Ontario candidate for Toronto-Danforth, will be one of the featured speakers. Come show your support for Tim and for education in Ontario!

Thanks, Chris, for these beautiful photos.     Read more »

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.

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 »

Monday, 2011 August 22, 7pm
Pape Library, 701 Pape Ave, upstairs meeting room

On Monday, 2011 August 22, the Green Party of Ontario’s Toronto-Danforth Constituency Association selects its candidate for the upcoming Ontario general election on 6 October.     Read more »

Update:  Click here to learn about the provincial debate.

If you are a Rogers customer, you can now watch the televised Toronto-Danforth all-candidates debate, moderated by Dale Goldhawk, online.     Read more »

Update:  Click here for the provincial debate.

The debate is just ending now, but Chris Tolley is already sending out his photo of his video of the proceedings.  As campaign manager, I get to hold fort at the office, anxious to hear how it went.

Update:  Someone has posted the full audio here.
Chris Tolley’s raw video is below:

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.

The Xof1 solar car is not allowed to drive on public roads.  So its creator, Marcelo da Luz, pulled it all the way as he walked the distance from Niagara Falls to Toronto.  His ceremonial end point was Queen’s Park.  After arrival, Adriana walked with him and the car back to his home in Toronto-Danforth.

We’ve had to revise our sizing chart:

A group of volunteers — William, Amy, Ron, Jo, Michael and myself — joined Adriana and her son on a visit to East Chinatown.  We started with lunch at Simon’s Wok, and then met with business owners and shoppers while putting up campaign signs and distributing cards.     Read more »

News report:

Elizabeth May doesn’t think now is the best time to be shoveling money to the richest corporations on earth.

Full statement:

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Here is one of the posters we want to place in subway stations.

There are three stairway-sized posters:     Read more »

Yesterday

At a talk I attended on Friday afternoon with constitutional scholar Peter Russell, he pointed out that of the 51 democracies in the world today, 48 are led by either coalitions or minority governments acting with the support of other parties.  If Stephen Harper rejects coalitions, he rejects democracy, because democracy is all about coalition building, partnership, working together and finding solutions.

Morning

This morning at an interfaith breakfast organized by Greening Sacred Spaces, I ran into a colleague who pointed out that Stephen Harper got the vote of 22% of eligible voters – that’s 38% of the 59% of the electors who bothered to vote.  So many people are disgusted with government they don’t vote at all.  And with the support of  less than one quarter of voters, Harper thinks the right thing to do is ignore other parties.

At the interfaith breakfast, I was very impressed with Rabbi Miriam of the Danforth Jewish Circle, who said that whenever she thinks about the environment she is reminded of Genesis.  She quoted in Hebrew but paraphrased in Jewish the phrase:

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Afternoon

Zito Hellas! I spent the afternoon at the Greek Independence Day Parade on the Danforth with two supporters and my young son carrying a Greek flag.  Then we bought some spanakopita and brought it back to the office we had just claimed at 1338 Danforth.  From now to election day, it will be open daily from 10am to 9pm.

The office was bustling all afternoon.  We have some very energetic local supporters who were helping move things around.  Thanks to Kashkoush and all his friends.  Six supporters went out with more window signs.  Our signs are up on Danforth, on Gerrard, on Donlands and Coxwell now.  My daughter and some young supporters made some progress towards a big sign over the office while office manager Jo Oppenheimer supervised the delivery of office furniture.

Evening

Our lawn signs are in print.  Our first flyers are in print.  Supporters and passers-by walked in and talked.  At 9pm, we were still talking to neighbours who had recently moved to the riding and wanted to know more about the Green Party.

This morning, a group of 30 Greens from all over the world gathered for breakfast in Cancun.  Most were officeholders in Europe, either in the EU Parliament or in country governments.  But municipal councillor Cathy Oke arrived from Melbourne, Australia, former Santa Monica mayor Mike Feinstein came from the United States, and four Canadian Greens joined in with three Brazilians, including the leader of the Brazilian Greens, Senator Marina Silva, who gathered 20 million votes in the last presidential election, earning 20% of the popular vote, 30% of the urban vote and winning the popular vote outright in Brazil’s capital city of Brasilia.

From left to right: Ronan Dantec, Deputy Mayor of the city of Nantes (France); Marina Silva, Presidential Candidate (Brazil); Dr Cathy Oke, City of Melbourne Councillor (Australia); Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu, Green Party of Canada Climate Change Critic; Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada

I had wanted to meet Marina ever since she left Lula’s government over disagreements about dam-building and other environmentally damaging policies and began to consider running for the Greens.     Read more »