Archive for 2006 September

Elizabeth May is at it again.

Thursday, 2006 September 21 at 6pm.
King Edward Hotel, Windsor Ballroom, 37 King St East.

With the Conservative government’s decision to move away from our Kyoto commitments and move towards the voluntary approach of the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate (or AP-6), Canada must answer critical questions regarding the direction and substance of its environmental strategy, as well as the role it will play globally when it comes to environmental issues.

• Elizabeth May (Leader, Federal Green Party),
• Peter Foster (Columnist, National Post and author), and
• Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon (Director, Trudeau Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies, UofT and author of ‘The Ingenuity Gap’),

will each present their environmental strategies for Canada, and then debate the topic, head-to-head.

Media are welcome to attend the debate and to pose questions during the question and answer period.

The Canadian Institute of International Affairs is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that has been providing Canadians with a non-partisan, nation-wide forum for discussion, analysis and debate of foreign policy issues for over 75 years.

For more info, you can visit www.ciia.org/toronto or call Jordan Dupuis at 416 977-9000 x23.

Elizabeth May will be on a panel organized as part of the popular St Lawrence Centre Forum series.

Monday, 2006 September 25, 7:30 to 9:30 pm.
St Lawrence Centre, 27 Front Street East
(2 blocks east of Union Station). Free.

Blurb follows:

Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth is an urgent call to action to address climate change. In Canada, innovative plans to reduce greenhouse gasses are being spearheaded by a handful of municipal and provincial governments. The Federal government has declared the Kyoto protocol unworkable, cancelled many existing programs to combat global warming, and is set to release a whole new ‘made in Canada’ plan.

Concerned citizens across Canada have embraced fluorescent light bulbs, recycling, energy retrofits, and higher fuel efficiency. The latest push is for people to assess their carbon production and buy off-sets – a trend made fashionable by rock groups and the World Cup. But are governments and businesses prepared to follow the example the public is setting?

What reductions can Canada hope to achieve and how? How do carbon offsets work and are they effective? With elections at all three levels of government on the horizon, what should Canadians expect from their elected representatives?

Panelists:

• Elizabeth May: Leader of the Green Party of Canada.
• Ralph Torrie: Energy and environmental consultant.
• Jose Etcheverry: Climate Change Program, David Suzuki Foundation

Invited:

• Rona Ambrose: Federal Minister of the Environment.
• Claude Béchard: Quebec Minister of the Environment.

Moderator:

• Lydia Dotto: science writer and author of Storm Warming: Gambling with the Climate of Our Planet.

I’ve seen one of these St Lawrence Centre Fora and heard of others. They are well put together.

There are serious environmental and health concerns related to the Portlands power plant. As part of my work for TEC (Toronto Energy Coalition, the citizen’s group working to stop the Portlands plant), I wrote a letter and sent it to Minister Broten, outlining these concerns, and requesting that the plant be elevated to a full Environmental Assessment. I also wrote a simpler version, which TEC is urging citizens to copy and send to the Minister as well.

A couple of days ago, I received a response from the Minister’s office,     Read more »

We need a Green foot in the door. They wouldn’t let Jim Harris into the 2006 leaders’ debates. Let’s not let that happen to Elizabeth May.  Sign the online petition to demand that the Green Party be included in the next election debates.

Rebecca Smit extends the following invitation:

For anyone who is interested, Frank’s campaign is looking for canvassers this weekend. We’re meeting at Tinto Coffee House, 89 Roncesvalles Ave, at 11:00 on Saturday and on Sunday.

It’s good fun, and easy to do.  There’s no requirement to talk to strangers: you can just put flyers in mailboxes.  Do be cautious on stairs.