Archive for Social justice & diversity

I’m a worrier. For most of my life, I’ve fretted over my children like many mothers do. Their health, their grades, their social development. The last few years I’ve been worried at a whole new level. When I was a young woman, analysts predicted a clean future powered by the sun and wind. They pointed out the urgency of starting this great transformation because a few decades later it would be too late. For multiple reasons including climate change, the imminent decline of oil and the stress on vulnerable but critical water and other resources, delay would bring on miserable results. That was a now a few decades ago. We are more dependent than ever on oil, our emissions keep rising, water tables are declining all over the world and food stresses are leading to riots in countries all over the world. Governments in North Africa are tumbling to populations that demand to be fed.

I remain hopeful that by investing in a green economy, we may still turn things around in time and deliver a future not too unlike the present for our children. That is what I’m working for, that is what I want to see – a Canada much like the Canada we all know, but moving boldly into a transitional economy from which we will emerge into a more permanent economy that’s more efficient and respectful of our limits.     Read more »

A clever site called People for Corporate Tax Cuts does a brilliant job of highlighting the impact on Canadians of a corporate tax cut.  Although it’s designed for an Ontario audience, it works well at all levels of government.  Governments only have so much money.  If they cut the corporate tax rate, either they have to increase the tax burden on individuals, or they have to cut services.  This might make sense if we had outrageous corporate tax rates that made it difficult for businesses to compete in a global economy, but that’s not the case.  Corporate tax cuts are just welfare for the rich.

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.

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.

May the new Rabbit year beginning today bless all Chinese Canadians, and all Canadians, with happiness, good health and good fortune.  Gung hei fat choi!  Happy New Year!

更多的中文信息。

And best wishes for the Vietnamese Year of the Cat.  An khang thịnh vượng!