We've knocked on the last door, dropped off the last brochure … now we wait like the rest of the country to digest our turkey see how it all pans out.
Things aren't over — as of today there were still many undecided voters out there. So there will be more than a few Canadians having a restless night, tossing and turning while their minds sort through the pros and cons of voting for each political party. (I voted about three weeks ago, by special ballot, so my sleep won't be disturbed by electoral indecision.) Not quite visions of sugar plums dancing through their heads, more like visions of either a promising or a perilous future, depending on the leader in question.
Sweet dreams, dear Canada — may our collective choices be the best for our country, now and for at least the next few months, 'til the next election...
Monday, October 13, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tide turning against the Tories
The most intense period of the election campaign is upon us, and all the parties and all the candidates are running as hard as we can.
The tempo peaked for me in the last few days. I represented the Green Party in a debate for the Jewish community on Sunday night, and faced off against the other candidates in York Centre on Monday night. Also, yesterday I and several other Toronto Green candidates went to the Sheraton Hotel downtown to make ourselves available to media to comment on the campaign platform that Harper was unveiling there. And last night I attended a Parc Downsview Park community consultation meeting.
The Sunday- and Monday-night debates were reflective of the mood of the country. At both, particularly the Monday-night debate, the audience, and I and the NDP and Liberal panelists, took the Tories to task for their fear-mongering regarding crime and punishment — as well as other faulty approaches such as claiming Harper is a strong, decisive leader when he flip-flops with the best of them. I pointed out that a few examples of Harper's making 180-degree reversals: taxing of income trusts, honouring the Atlantic Accord, the fixed election date law, and consultative appointment of judges to the Supreme Court — with a Tory pre-election appointment September 5 that did not involve the other parties whatsoever.
There are many other indications that the tide is, thankfully, turning against the Tories. For example, earlier this week the Sierra Club of Canada and Greenpeace sent out a news release saying that Canadians should vote the Conservatives out of office because of their abysmal, do-nothing approach on the environment.
Another indication is the platform Harper unveiled yesterday in Toronto. I and several other Green Party candidates were at the Sheraton Hotel when Harper gave a speech to the Canadian Club about the platform, and we made ourselves available to media to comment on it. Our comments on the platform and the media coverage of it show Harper's amendment to bill C-10 is a sign they know they've shot themselves in the electoral foot.
Moreover, they are offering inadequate, belated bones to the manufacturing and aerospace industries. Nice try, Harper, taking Ontarians' money and giving it back to them only as small, band-aid solutions. As Green Party Elizabeth May noted, “This pocket change is woefully inadequate given the scale of the economic crisis. Like the GST cuts, Harper is dribbling money away with no impact whatsoever on the economy or job creation."
And Harper actually said during the platform-unveiling speech that the slashing of stock prices presents a "buying opportunity." To whom, Mr. Harper? Not those of the vast majority of us, who are seeing our savings shrink dramatically; only to those of your ilk, who are happy to prey on the corpses of collapsing corporations amid the mountains of lost jobs.
Perhaps, since Harper made the platform announcement the day before the beginning of the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, he was actually trying to slip in a little last-minute economic and social penance. Surely, though, his entreaties will fall on deaf ears among the Canadian public and perhaps even the Higher Power. This is because he has already shown his intent to turn Canada into 'Libertarian Land' where the things we Canadians cherish most — including equality of all people including immigrants, the social safety net, arts and culture, and access to safe food, clean air and clean water — are vanquished by the forces of deregulation, small government and 'business knows best.'
The tempo peaked for me in the last few days. I represented the Green Party in a debate for the Jewish community on Sunday night, and faced off against the other candidates in York Centre on Monday night. Also, yesterday I and several other Toronto Green candidates went to the Sheraton Hotel downtown to make ourselves available to media to comment on the campaign platform that Harper was unveiling there. And last night I attended a Parc Downsview Park community consultation meeting.
The Sunday- and Monday-night debates were reflective of the mood of the country. At both, particularly the Monday-night debate, the audience, and I and the NDP and Liberal panelists, took the Tories to task for their fear-mongering regarding crime and punishment — as well as other faulty approaches such as claiming Harper is a strong, decisive leader when he flip-flops with the best of them. I pointed out that a few examples of Harper's making 180-degree reversals: taxing of income trusts, honouring the Atlantic Accord, the fixed election date law, and consultative appointment of judges to the Supreme Court — with a Tory pre-election appointment September 5 that did not involve the other parties whatsoever.
There are many other indications that the tide is, thankfully, turning against the Tories. For example, earlier this week the Sierra Club of Canada and Greenpeace sent out a news release saying that Canadians should vote the Conservatives out of office because of their abysmal, do-nothing approach on the environment.
Another indication is the platform Harper unveiled yesterday in Toronto. I and several other Green Party candidates were at the Sheraton Hotel when Harper gave a speech to the Canadian Club about the platform, and we made ourselves available to media to comment on it. Our comments on the platform and the media coverage of it show Harper's amendment to bill C-10 is a sign they know they've shot themselves in the electoral foot.
Moreover, they are offering inadequate, belated bones to the manufacturing and aerospace industries. Nice try, Harper, taking Ontarians' money and giving it back to them only as small, band-aid solutions. As Green Party Elizabeth May noted, “This pocket change is woefully inadequate given the scale of the economic crisis. Like the GST cuts, Harper is dribbling money away with no impact whatsoever on the economy or job creation."
And Harper actually said during the platform-unveiling speech that the slashing of stock prices presents a "buying opportunity." To whom, Mr. Harper? Not those of the vast majority of us, who are seeing our savings shrink dramatically; only to those of your ilk, who are happy to prey on the corpses of collapsing corporations amid the mountains of lost jobs.
Perhaps, since Harper made the platform announcement the day before the beginning of the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, he was actually trying to slip in a little last-minute economic and social penance. Surely, though, his entreaties will fall on deaf ears among the Canadian public and perhaps even the Higher Power. This is because he has already shown his intent to turn Canada into 'Libertarian Land' where the things we Canadians cherish most — including equality of all people including immigrants, the social safety net, arts and culture, and access to safe food, clean air and clean water — are vanquished by the forces of deregulation, small government and 'business knows best.'
Thursday, October 2, 2008
It's Debate Time !
I was in my first-ever all-candidates' debate on September 24, at Beth Emeth, a synagogue right around the corner from my house. It was nice to have the opportunity to directly debate with the other candidates, and in particular to challenge the Tory candidate about the abysmal record of the government on the environment, the economy and Harper's autocratic style. I'm looking forward to the upcoming debates — one this Sunday evening when I'll be representing the Green Party of Canada in an all-parties' Toronto Jewish Community Political Forum organized by the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (7:30-9:30 p.m. Sunday October 5 at the Shaarei Shomayim synagogue at Bathurst and Glencairn) and a York Centre all-candidates' debate the next day organised by the Balmoral Homeowners' Association (7:30-9:30 p.m. Monday, October 6 at the Montecassino Hotel at Sheppard Avenue W. and Chesswood).
I also watched the televised leaders' debate in French last night, on Radio Canada. It was such a historic occasion: the first time a Green Party leader has been included in the debates. The forces of democracy in this country have not been suppressed by petty partisan politics, thank God, despite the best efforts of Harper, Layton and Duceppe.
Elizabeth May gave a creditable performance, and she got in the points she was trying to make. She pointed out, for example, that Harper is taking only very small steps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and that the recent Canadian Medical Association Journal article written by several editors of the journal that blames Harper's government for the listeriosis crisis (see http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/rapidpdf/cmaj.081477v2.pdf) is not a meaningless statement by low-level lackies. Tonight's debate in English will also provide ample opportunity for Elizabeth to shine light on the serious flaws in the Conservative approach, I'm sure.
The tide is turning, as Canadians get glimpses past the too-smooth exterior of Stephen Harper and into the mensonges that underpin many of his statements. For example, he glibly states that a carbon tax will ruin the economy — when an economic analysis his own government commissioned but then buried showed that a carbon tax will not hurt the country (see the September 12, 2008 Green Party of Canada news release about this, at http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/12.09.2008).
And earlier this week it was revealed that a speech Stephen Harper delivered in the House of Commons on March 20, 2003 urging the government of the time to send Canadian troops to Iraq was largely cribbed from a speech delivered just two days before that by Australian prime minister John Howard. The man who wrote the speech — who had been a member of Harper's election campaign team this time around — took the fall and he resigned. Which seems to imply that Harper's foreign policy is either directed by speech writer, or by foreign governments. It seems more likely that the latter is the case rather than the former, since it was a very important speech for Harper. Wonderful to think that the man who's become our prime minister, who tries to fool Canadians into thinking he's a moderate, and who wants a majority government is a puppet of John Howard and George W. Bush!
I also watched the televised leaders' debate in French last night, on Radio Canada. It was such a historic occasion: the first time a Green Party leader has been included in the debates. The forces of democracy in this country have not been suppressed by petty partisan politics, thank God, despite the best efforts of Harper, Layton and Duceppe.
Elizabeth May gave a creditable performance, and she got in the points she was trying to make. She pointed out, for example, that Harper is taking only very small steps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and that the recent Canadian Medical Association Journal article written by several editors of the journal that blames Harper's government for the listeriosis crisis (see http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/rapidpdf/cmaj.081477v2.pdf) is not a meaningless statement by low-level lackies. Tonight's debate in English will also provide ample opportunity for Elizabeth to shine light on the serious flaws in the Conservative approach, I'm sure.
The tide is turning, as Canadians get glimpses past the too-smooth exterior of Stephen Harper and into the mensonges that underpin many of his statements. For example, he glibly states that a carbon tax will ruin the economy — when an economic analysis his own government commissioned but then buried showed that a carbon tax will not hurt the country (see the September 12, 2008 Green Party of Canada news release about this, at http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/12.09.2008).
And earlier this week it was revealed that a speech Stephen Harper delivered in the House of Commons on March 20, 2003 urging the government of the time to send Canadian troops to Iraq was largely cribbed from a speech delivered just two days before that by Australian prime minister John Howard. The man who wrote the speech — who had been a member of Harper's election campaign team this time around — took the fall and he resigned. Which seems to imply that Harper's foreign policy is either directed by speech writer, or by foreign governments. It seems more likely that the latter is the case rather than the former, since it was a very important speech for Harper. Wonderful to think that the man who's become our prime minister, who tries to fool Canadians into thinking he's a moderate, and who wants a majority government is a puppet of John Howard and George W. Bush!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Sea Change
What a difference a couple of weeks makes! First, we got our first Green MP, Blair Wilson from the riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country on August 30. Then the federal election campaign began on Sunday Sept. 7 (the day after my 45th birthday - nice birthday present from Harper). And of course yesterday Harper and Layton bowed to Canadians' sense of fairness and democracy, and Elizabeth May will be in the televised leaders' debates on October 1 and 2.
For me and all the other people running as candidates or working on campaigns for the Green Party of Canada in this election, we know that a sea change is occurring in a positive way. Never before in Canadian history has there been a Green MP. Never before in Canadian history has a Green Party leader been included in the televised leaders' debates. As a member of my team, Barbara Stephen, remarked, "With Elizabeth blowing fair winds into the sails, who knows what can be achieved!"
Take care,
Rosemary
For me and all the other people running as candidates or working on campaigns for the Green Party of Canada in this election, we know that a sea change is occurring in a positive way. Never before in Canadian history has there been a Green MP. Never before in Canadian history has a Green Party leader been included in the televised leaders' debates. As a member of my team, Barbara Stephen, remarked, "With Elizabeth blowing fair winds into the sails, who knows what can be achieved!"
Take care,
Rosemary
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