Day 2: What’s the problem with coalitions?

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.