Well, it looks like Elizabeth May has found a way to chat with Jack Layton.

As everyone probably knows, Elizabeth May and Stéphane Dion will not be running candidates in each other’s ridings.  What everyone may not know is that Elizabeth has been trying since her election as Green Party leader to develop working relationships with any parties that support reasonable action on climate change, so that when we have some seats in Parliament, we can work with these parties. She has made no headway with Jack Layton, in spite of the fact that 85% of NDP members favour some sort of rapport between the parties. Jack Layton is your MP. He is supposed to represent you. So tell him to do the right thing. Then get two neighbours who are NDP supporters to tell him, too. Be polite but firm.

You can write to Jack at:
laytoj@parl.gc.ca
or
221 Broadview Ave, Ste 100
Toronto, ON M4M 2G3

And if it’s not too much to ask, tell me if you’ve written a letter, so that I can keep a tally of letters that have gone out.

For background, watch this CTV interview of Elizabeth May where she says “What the hell is wrong with Jack Layton that he can’t answer a phone call?”

People from outside Toronto-Danforth should also write to Jack Layton and tell him what he needs to do.

There has been a tremendous buzz around the supposed love-affair between Greens and Liberals.  The only hint of truth there is that Elizabeth May, and many others in the Green Party (including myself, by the way) recognize that all opposition parties are politically closer to the Greens than the current government.

The story seems to centre around Elizabeth’s announcement that she will run in Central Nova (currently held by Foreign Minister Peter Mackay) in the next election, which is viewed as some sort of overture to the Liberals.  What it really is is a gesture of courage and conviction from someone who doesn’t want to take the easiest path, but rather the path that feels most right.  Yes, she might have won more easily in a riding with a Liberal or NDP incumbent, but that would not deprive the current toxic government of a seat, and would force her to spend her time attacking the policies of parties more in line with her own.  She chose the harder route not to benefit any particular opposition party, but to focus her campaign on attacking the worst offender.     Read more »

Here’s a bit of background on why I joined the Green Party.  I moved into Riverdale in 2002 in part because our family was expanding with our infant son, newly arrived from Korea.  Just after we moved in, little Loren developed a rasp in his voice that concerned me.  He sounded a bit like my asthmatic eldest son had sounded when we adopted him in Brazil many years ago and before we were able to treat him.  In Loren’s case, the rasp was minor and disappeared over time, but I was not surprised to hear that the air in Riverdale is bad.  Toronto’s air is the worst in the country, with the most annual smog days by far, but Riverdale’s air is bad even by Toronto’s standards.

Which is really unfair.     Read more »