Monthly Archives: September 2006

The Globe Spins Around

economy, trade

Want to read something strange? Pick up a copy of today’s Globe And Mail and check out the editorial titled The unwelcome landing of another U.S. penalty. The Globe is now “appalled” at how NAFTA is working (or, rather, not working) for our country:

Not again…What are the Americans doing? … Canada cannot win … This is appalling. Whatever happened to the consultations that NAFTA was supposed to foster? … [This] is a terrible way to treat a neighbour.

Uh, yeah, ok. Except that earlier this week the Globe said that Elizabeth May was “off to a bad start” for making the “extreme” suggestion “that the North American free-trade agreement is not working.” Instead, the Globe said, Elizabeth should be focusing on “real issues.”

How do we reconcile this apparent contradiction? Obviously, the only possible conclusion is that Elizabeth, myself, and at least three other letter writers have managed to sway the Globe’s editorial board in less than a week. Good for us.

Maybe stage four will come sooner than we thought.

Hurray! We’re Under Attack!

green party

There are a number of stock quotes that Greens are fond of throwing around. For example, Gandhi’s “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win,” was often heard during the last election.

The Green Party of Canada was formed in the early 80s, so we spent a long time at stage one. It was only in the past two elections (2004 and 2006) that we graduated to stage two.

Now, with major newspaper editorials and other forms of attention, our actual policies are under serious attack for the first time. I didn’t realize this until I felt what it was like to be in a party that people take seriously, but up until now most criticisms took the form of dismissal (eg, “they’re a fringe party”). Now when people attack our ideas, they do it with a seriousness that was absent before.

Welcome to stage three everybody. Stage four isn’t far away.