Election Eve Blogging

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There’s something in the air. Sitting here in our campaign office, every computer is occupied with volunteers working to make sure everything’s ready for tomorrow. My email inbox is suddenly filling up with best wishes from family and friends (some of whom I haven’t heard from in years), as is my Facebook wall.

By any measure, this Green campaign has already been Toronto’s most successful ever. We have heard from far more supporters, delivered far more signs, raised more money, and received more media attention and endorsements than would have seemed possible when I first ran just two years ago. More importantly for me, we’ve also driven the agenda in a substantial way (more on this later).

Now, we need your vote. Call our office if you have any questions or need a ride. And happy St. Patrick’s day to all!

CBC Radio: It’s Tindal or Rae, and I Need Your Vote

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I had no problem waking up to this radio report this morning, which frames this election as a choice between myself or my Liberal opponent. Have a listen.

By the way, people sometimes tell me “I agree with almost everything you stand for, I think you’re the best candidate, and I’d vote for you if you were running for another party.” There’s a problem with that: if I were running for another party, I wouldn’t be able to say the things I’ve been saying. I wouldn’t be able to represent the platform that so many people agree with once they hear it articulated.

I think people sometimes conclude that since I sound reasonable, and since they assume the Green Party isn’t reasonable, I must be some kind of rogue anomaly. I’m not. If you agree with what you’ve heard me say in a debate or in the media or on a piece of campaign literature and think that those ideas should be represented in Parliament, I need more than your good wishes (though those are always appreciated, too) to make it happen. I need your vote this Monday.

GROW Housing Toronto

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GROW Housing TorontoLast Tuesday at the St. Lawrence debate I was very excited to announce a major policy initiative called GROW Housing Toronto. The plan would see the Moss Park Armoury replaced with an inspiring development that provides not only new affordable housing (based on proven mixed-income, rent-to-own and co-operative models), but also generates power, grows food and creates jobs. Even though the proposal is in a “conceptual” stage, many experts have contributed to GROW Housing’s design and, while not all of the details have been finalized, many have. Here’s the video of the announcement.

Details and images can be found at growhousingtoronto.com, and there’s also a Facebook group. Here’s Eyeweekly’s take on the proposal, as well as the debate in general:

“It’s tempting to let cynicism sink in,” says Green candidate Chris Tindal. “Because these are just words.” Recently noting that the number of news stories regarding his hair (one) exceeded the number of news stories regarding his platform (zero), Tindal shows off something practical: GROW Housing Toronto, a design to replace Moss Park Armoury at Jarvis and Queen with affordable residences that fulfill urban environmental fantasies — including a Vertical Farm.

The conversation keeps veering away from the local, though, but Rae manages to reel it back by expressing how more people across Canada migrating to cities will be even more of a challenge than the immigration of a previous era. Tindal is pleased to hear Liberal talk of an environmental tax shift, noting there was no such discussion by Bill Graham when Tindal last did this election schtick in 2006.

But there’s a bit less Rae worship from Tindal this time around, pointing out that he’s the only candidate on the St. Lawrence Centre stage that was there for the previous federal election.

“We are hearing that people should vote Liberal to stop the scary spectre of Stephen Harper when you know this is a by-election,” snipes Tindal. “The fact is, the Conservatives have no chance of winning — the best Don Meredith can say is that he believes in miracles. You’re slipping into the politics of fear, and I think there are more options than that.

“Vote for me, and if you don’t like me, you can vote me out — in a month … or a year … or a week … or a day … or however long this current government lasts.”

Tindal also used his personal blog to refute Rae’s assertion that there aren’t Canadian military officers serving in Iraq as part of the American command, and even served up the evidence.