Category Archives: green party

What’s He Gonna Do?

green party

That’s the question everyone’s asking. And along with being quoted and linked in The Tyee, it’s also contributed to a spike in this blog’s visits over the past few days.

As you almost certainly know, I’m talking about Garth Turner, who is contemplating the opportunity to become Canada’s first Green MP after being kicked out of the Conservative caucus two days ago.

Garth has basically two options: join another party or remain independent. The fact that he says he’s “waiting for a new logo” leads me to believe that he may favour the former. If so, the NDP have said they don’t want him, which leaves the Greens or the Liberals. Of those two options, I think he’s leaning towards us. In his own words, “defecting to the Liberals would clearly be a big step for a guy with blue blood in his veins.” On the other hand, the Green Party has many former Conservatives, and we were the second choice of more Conservative voters in the last election (a full 36%) than of voters for any other party.

Therefore, my best guess is that he’ll either remain an independent or join the Greens. As for predicting anything more specific than that, I think the odds are split 50/50. What I can say is that he’s considering it seriously, and has been speaking with both Elizabeth May and the local Green Party association in Halton, where I grew up.

His decision will probably come down to what his constituents want. That’s where you can help. If you live in Halton, or know someone who does, please show up at one of Garth’s town hall meetings this weekend and let him know you think he should make history.

Saturday October 21st, 2006 at 2:30 PM
Tansley Woods Library (in Community Centre)
1996 Itabashi Way, Burlington

Sunday October 22nd, 2006 at 4:00 PM
Ella Foote Hall
6611 Panton Road, Kilbride

I realize now that as this post draws to a close I haven’t devoted any space to explaining why I think Garth should go Green. In short, it would do more to advance Canadian action on climate change than anything else that’s in his power. He’s said that “climate change is the greatest all-round threat this country faces,” and that the decision he now has to make is how he can best serve his constituents.

Greens are a diverse group already, so Garth would fit right in even when he was sticking out. And with a threat as big as the climate crisis, there’s no time to play partisan politics. I’ll work with anyone who’s willing and able to accomplish the goal.

Elizabeth May, Lumberjack

green party

Last night, Elizabeth May appeared on the Rick Mercer Report and cut down a tree. Good on her.

You can watch the clip here. I strongly encourage you to compare it to Rona Ambrose’s previous performance.

I watched the show with some Green friends of mine, including a “deep green” who I was worried would object to the tree-cutting. As Elizabeth started in with the chain saw, I was sure my fears had been confirmed.

“Oh, why is she doing that,” the deep green asked with anguish.

“The tree’s already dead,” someone else pointed-out helpfully.

“No,” responded the deep green, “I mean why is she cutting straight? Where’s the wedge!?!”

So, as it turns out, the segment was enjoyed by all.

“An Interesting Day”

conservative party, green party

That’s how my new best friend Garth Turner described it.

In case you haven’t heard, here’s how things went down. Last night, Garth, the Conservative MP for Halton, made a blog post called “The stakes,” where he talked about the seriousness of climate change and the need for action. The post could be interpreted to be more supportive of Green Party leader Elizabeth May than environment minister Rona Ambrose.

Today, Garth was kicked out of the Conservative caucus. (BTW, they didn’t tell him about it. He found out on TV.)

I can’t tell you how good it feels to belong to a party where I can today blog in support of Garth without fear of reprisal. The planet and good policy come before party politics, always.

Please consider offering Garth your verbal and, heck, financial support.

This Is Getting Intense

climate crisis, conservative party, green party

Wait a second, the Conservative government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to let them rise? Oh, but don’t worry, they’ll rise “more slowly.” I’m thinking of sending Rona Ambrose a certain James Cameron film in the mail. Water entered the Titanic pretty slowly too.

This planned rise in emissions is due to the government’s last minute announcement that, at the request of the oil industry (ok, they didn’t actually admit that part), they’re going to be using “intensity-based” targets. What that means is that overall emissions can go up, as long as emissions per production unit go down. For example, as long as the oil industry reduces the amount of emissions that are created by the extraction and refinement of each barrel of oil, they can go ahead and increase the total number of barrels they produce.

How does that help the fact that the earth is hotter than it’s been in a million years? It doesn’t.

(No, that wasn’t hyperbole. I actually mean 1,000,000 years. It’s not your fault if you didn’t know that, it wasn’t really headline news. Other stuff was more important I guess.)

Still, not everyone gets that this is a problem. Some continue to say things like, “reducing our emissions is, you know, really hard, so we shouldn’t even try.” Those of us in the choir need to keep reiterating to our skeptical coworkers and friends that reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is not a luxury. It’s not an option. The best case scenario for failure is a serious decline in our quality of life and economy. The worst case is unthinkable.

The good news is, reason has the momentum. As Elizabeth May’s Globe And Mail column pointed out in true Green style, the Clean Air Act has nothing to do with either clean air or action. The Conservative government thinks Canadians are too dumb to figure that out. We will prove them wrong.