Archive for Participatory democracy

Apparently, Stephen Harper is once again contemplating removing the per-vote party funding which nearly brought down his government last year.  And this time, he might just succeed, since the Liberal Party at this stage relies less on the mechanism.  This would be a tremendous step backwards for democracy and needs to be fought tooth and nail.

I’m wary of fighting for policies that benefit the Green Party, because they open us up to charges of promoting only what’s best for us.  But in this case, it’s so obviously a toxic policy that I find it easy to fight.

PM Harper will undoubtedly suggest that this is needed as a cost-cutting measure.  But there are at least five ways that our government finances political parties.  Stephen Harper wants to get rid of only one – the one that is the most representative of democracy, and also the one that proportionally benefits him least.  If he really wants to save money, why doesn’t he instead get rid of one of the other, less democratic, methods?     Read more »

In late March 1964, my parents went to visit the newly unveiled Brazilian capital of Brasilia.  My mom, pregnant with me, returned to Uberlândia, where my father’s family lived, to their great relief.  Brazil had just suffered the military overthrow of their elected government, and my mom and dad, seeing the sights in the capital city, hadn’t even noticed.

Like the recent military coup in Honduras, Brazil’s coup was bloodless.  But it ushered in twenty years of political repression, journalistic censorship, disappearances, a pattern of torture, and even amid a time of burgeoning economic growth known as the “Brazilian miracle”, a rise in infant mortality, the collapse of the education system and the polarization of society into a small group of ultra-rich and a huge class of desperately poor.  The Brazil that I came to know as a teenager was a Brazil teeming with urban poor clustered in shantytowns of unimaginable squalor.     Read more »

Once again the Portlands are being threatened with being used as a dumping ground for unwanted development.  This time, the TTC wants to use them as yards for sleeping streetcars as they expand their fleet.       Read more »

Explaining my introductory postcard: “Ensure every vote counts by increasing voter access and implementing proportional representation.”     Read more »

I encourage everyone to sign the Kyotoplus petition.  Then go and get your friends all over Canada to sign it, too.

As I’ve become a candidate, I was worried that I couldn’t do more to help the Kyotoplus coalition, which is an extremely vital component in the battle against climate change.  I’ve now started campaigning door-to-door with my new postcard, which I’ll introduce online soon, and I’m carrying the Kyotoplus petition with me and urging every Toronto-Danforth resident to sign on, no matter what party they support.  It’s the least I can do.     Read more »