Join us at the Crow’s Nest in Newmarket Sunday night at 8:30 for our Campaign Kick-off.

A brief moment to enjoy the calm before 5 weeks of election craziness.

Crow’s Nest is at 115 Prospect Street. Can hardly wait to see you there!

Last week’s statement by PM Harper that being found in contempt of Parliament multiple times and being charged with election fraud are merely ‘distractions’ is a clear sign of the lack of respect he has for Canadian democratic institutions.

Make no mistake, these systems are in place as safeguards against abuses of power by those who claim to lead us. This government, which has managed to cling to power for going on five years now despite the support of less than 25% of eligible voters, has consistently shown that they consider Parliament and the people of Canada to be simply obstacles in the way of their doing business.

Claiming that the economy is their #1 priority (while running up record deficits) attempts to scare people into compliance with a false argument.

The real argument here, and all left and right parties will make it, is that we are mere units in an economy and that, beyond the economy, everything else is secondary. Somehow a strong GDP translates into a ‘better’ country.

Well, when my Mom got cancer and died, that increased the GDP. That’s as far as I need to go to know that there is something fundamentally wrong with trying to run a country based on GDP.

The Green Party is different. Unlike the traditional left-right continuum of economic-based Parties, the Greens are ecologically-based.

Now, before you go off and start trumpeting that this is why we will never lead, take one minute to think about what this means.

Greens look at the whole system and figure out how to make it run as best as possible. We are not so focused on the economy that we ignore the quality of life that citizens enjoy.

We’re smarter than that. We know that quality of life is what should determine how the economy runs.

What does a green economy look like? It doesn’t pollute without cost. It provides local, resilient employment so that all Canadians can enjoy a higher standard of living instead of the increasing concentration of wealth into a few hands.

And it doesn’t think that someone dying of cancer is a good thing because it brings more money into the system.

Instead of sick care, a green economy promotes health care. Real health care. Not more prescriptions because those help drug companies. But healthier citizens because that increases the quality of life.

Change is coming. It won’t be from the left-right parties who are trapped in their economy first mindset.

It will come from the increasing number of people who realize that their lives are more important than money. That’s why I vote Green.

It is sad for me to see a Canadian icon like Rex Murphy slip into vitriolic ranting, the likes of which Toronto has seen too much of these last few months, but that is how he has chosen to use his precious inches in the National Post. His most recent column, from Friday, is so one-sided and narrow-minded that I questioned whether it was even worth responding to.

However, a rant was requested by a dear friend, so here it is:

Rex slams the UN for allowing *bad* people like Ahmadinejad to participate, allowing the Human Rights Council to make decisions he doesn’t agree with, and, generally, not bowing down and licking the ass of western leaders. He claims it is inefficient, that it has failed, and that we, as a country, are foolish to seek a Security Council seat because we should just walk away.

How ridiculous.

The United Nations is a grand experiment the likes of which humanity has never before attempted. It envisions a world where we talk instead of fight, where we have a neutral forum for diplomacy, and where even the smallest country has as much power as the mightiest.

The General Assembly comes close to this ideal – it has passed landmark resolutions through the decades that have helped to create a new standard for humane behaviour. It has called for acknowledgment of the Rights of Children, the Indigenous, the Disabled (Differently Abled), Women, and many other groups. Which is pretty amazing considering it has representatives from almost every recognized country in the world.

After two horrific world wars in the first half of the 20th century, the UN has played a key role in raising living standards and reducing violence the world over. It has provided a moral voice that provides light to those living in darkness and it has not shied away from calling to account the powerful who act in selfish ways. Sometimes it is the U.S., sometimes China or Russia, and sometimes, especially lately, it has reprimanded us.

With our current government, we have, more and more, become outsiders at the UN as our representatives continue to act in selfish, greedy, ignorant ways that are only concerned with power and not at all with the concerns of humanity.

Our leader pretends to care about maternal health, but I don’t buy it. When he begins to listen to science, or his own International Co-operation Minister, and act in ways that are up to the world’s standards, then maybe I’ll believe. But as long as he is driven by a radical religious ideology and the tenets of neoconservatism, his compassion is illusory if not altogether absent.

Is the UN perfect? Absolutely not. The first, and I believe most beneficial change, would be to reform the Security Council and eliminate the veto for the World War II victors. If you want to know why the UN is inefficient, why it cannot respond quickly in the face of crisis, you need look no further than the VETO of the Security Council. It is a shame, and one that desperately needs changing.

Has it had scandals? Absolutely yes. But, then again, if we got rid of every institution that had scandals we’d have very few left. The problem with the UN is that it lacks accountability and auditing. Systems need to be put in place to ensure that its branches are audited, its workers are given exit-interviews and that there is some coherent and understandable mechanism transparent to the public.

Why is the UN worthwhile?

The UN provides food assistance, through the World Food Programme (just one of its many programmes) to over 100 million people each year, including 62 million children. It is one of the first aid agencies to arrive when there is famine, natural disaster, or war.

The UN calls us to a higher standard of behaviour, urges compassion for those in need, and aims to move beyond simplistic power politics. It provides a vision for the future and hope to those who live in terror.

The UN opens our eyes to the world around us. It makes it harder to believe that our actions do not have global implications and tears our eyes away from consumerism and reality TV.

Finally, the members of the UN developed and agreed to the Millennium Development Goals, incredibly inspiring statements of purpose for a more just world. That they have not been fulfilled is a matter for Western leaders, like ours, who have paid lip service to them, but don’t really give a shit.

But, as citizens, we can care, we can care a lot, and we can call our leaders to account and demand that they donate the funds necessary to change the world for the better by empowering women, and improving health care, literacy, and the economic position of the world’s poorest.

We can care. We can transition from selfish consumers to aware citizens. We can pick one of the MDGs and run with it, call attention to it, and campaign to get it done. We can do this.

We can.

And, as for Rex Murphy. . I’ve had enough of loud-mouthed, narrow-minded drivel to last me a lifetime.

I choose a positive vision of the future. One filled with peace and compassion and understanding.

I can.

And so can you.

In the first part of this rant, I hypothesized that the flush status of one’s personal financial resources should not determine whether or not you are able to run for Council.

This was inspired by a certain Toronto Mayoral Candidate who whips his supporters into a frenzy by chastising Toronto Council for their over-zealous spending.

And perhaps their spending should be audited and re-evaluated. I support transparent finances at all levels of government.

But, unfortunately, the attitude that seems to be created by Mr. Ford and his fans is that civic duty is not worth rewarding.

I think every person who courageously (and unless you are a freak, trust me, it takes a lot of courage) steps up to have their voice heard, and manages to muster enough support to get elected deserves adequate compensation.

If we want to attract the best and the brightest, should we not then offer competitive salaries?

I think so. Not exorbitant. But certainly enough to make it worthwhile as an option for those who have succeeded in their own sphere of influence.

But, if I listen to Mr. Ford long enough – I start to wonder if Councillors are expected to work for free.

It’s a common belief – those who work for the ‘common good’ are somehow compensated by the warm, fuzzy feelings that their work brings and that they, therefore, do not need enough of a salary to feed and house their family, go on a vacation every now and then, and maybe even save for retirement.

I think it is a belief that needs to be challenged. What kind of a society do we live in where corporate lawyers are paid more than teachers, priests, and Councillors … put together?

Mr. Ford is playing on an outdated belief and he needs to be challenged.

Just saw a snarky tweet about how electricity prices are set to ‘soar’ in Australia – and that it was because of new solar development. Indeed, when you read the article from the Daily Telegraph, they are going up, by about $7 per year.

What the Telegraph article, and solar critics, won’t mention is that Australia has just about the lowest electricity prices in the developed world – and that a huge percentage goes to resource intensive industries such as uranium extraction AND that most of their electricity is produced by brown and black coal.

In addition, their electricity demand is growing at a rate of 3% per year, a growth that requires new infrastructure and upgrades to that existing.

Perhaps it would help put it in perspective if they thought about the health repercussions and their carbon footprint while they busily dig for coal.

Not that we have the high ground here.

One of the phases of Transition Towns (TT) is the creation of working groups, and, happily, one of the first working groups to form here in York Region is the Heart & Soul group. Have you ever felt like ‘the thing’ you’ve been preparing for all your life has finally appeared? That’s kinda what TT feels like for me – I am feeling fairly enchanted by the whole process.

Breaking the addictions to fossil fuels and consumerism can be a painful process – it is always hard to wake up and see the light – and the H&S group is tasked with helping people find a way through the process that is enjoyable, not just doable.

We are also responsible for helping our members prevent burnout, and as any activist knows, it is no small feat to keep energized and positive as the months, years and decades of work pass by.

With TT we are blessed to start with a premise that is positive, uplifting, and energizing, but it will be up to the Heart & Soul group to keep the Vision before the group and bring in community members with engaging activities and truly inclusive facilitation.

If you would like to find out more, or would like to join our group, please contact me, or visit the York Region TT network to learn more and sign up.

This whole Rob Ford (for Mayor of Toronto) thing is really starting to get to me.

I’ve just about had it with this whole, ‘I think Councillors make too much money’-thing. It bothers me on several levels. My impression is that Rob Ford proudly minimizes the amount of taxpayer money that he uses to run his Council office and that he takes home as pay.

He uses his own resources (including his family’s printing business) to communicate with constituents and fund his campaigns. And that’s great.

If you happen to have adequate financial resources to do that.

Which he does.

But those are resources that a lot of people do not have. They may not be as financially flush as Mr. Ford. They may have problems feeding their family or finding and keeping housing.

That may even be the issue that drives them to run for Council. They may feel compelled to advocate for those in need – for those whose voices are unheard.

Do Mr. Ford and his rabid supporters, then, believe that these people do not deserve to run for Council, or to stay on Council, because they do not have the money to turn down the ‘perks’ of an office budget?

Are only rich people allowed to sit on City Council? Or any Council for that matter?

And I’m not talking about only the poorest among us. A recent survey found that 60% of Canadians are one paycheque away from financial disaster. I’ve been one of those Canadians. It isn’t fun.

But does that mean that my voice is not worth hearing?

I hope not.

There is something very exciting happening in York Region and I am thrilled to see it happening, and even more thrilled to have the privilege to be involved. A few intrepid souls have started a Transition Towns (TT) ‘mulling’ group and it is already bringing together knowledge, skills, and a vision for a resilient and localized community.

The Era Banner did a pretty darn good Sunday feature on Sue McKee (one of the initiators) though the consensus has been that it did not emphasize the, as one of our illustrious members put it, the fact that “Transition Town is quite simply the most synergistic, optimistic, supercalifragilistic social engineering idea I have ever seen.”

You can find out more about the York Region TT group here.

Last night, three local TT’ers ventured to Peterborough to learn more about their TT movement, which has advanced from ‘mulling’ into ‘launching,’ and Open Space facilitation, one of the preferred meeting moderation techniques of TT.

Part of the evening was used to lay out some of the key learnings of the Peterborough group and what they considered to be essential local needs. To me, most of these local needs would translate well to working groups and comprise essential political issues. So I thought I’d pass them along:

Health
Transportation
Infrastructure
Food
Water
Housing
Energy
Money
Banking
Education
Waste
Pollution
Soil
Forests
Wetlands

What do you think? If you are interested in learning more about Transition Towns or joining the York Region group please feel free to contact me.

Continuing from my last post, I have to say that this weekend’s G8 and G20 protests and police responses both demonstrated a distinct lack of reverence. Where was the reverence by the protesters for the near-impossible task that our police were asked to do as protectors of the peace? And by the police towards the democratic expression of views by the protesters? That almost 900 people were arrested in the days leading up to and including the Summits is ridiculous. That there are people still being held in improvised and unlawful conditions is unacceptable.

First, I am horrified at the arrest, abuse, and detention of media representatives – a free and open media is essential to a healthy democracy. While I appreciate that throwing them in jail is one way to ensure that they get an excellent story, I believe it sets a horrible precedent and must be dealt with immediately.

Second, the policing does not appear to have been organized well. Of particular concern to me was the elimination of the ‘safe’ protest zone at Queen’s Park. Far removed from the actual Summit area, I am still having trouble understanding why the police would (seemingly on a whim) decide to clear this area and send protesters scuttling through the downtown. It seems to me that keeping protesters contained in one safe area would have been a better idea. If the priority was the fenced-in area, why were they harassing protesters on the Esplanade?

I am also disappointed in the organizers who seemed to abandon the protesters after the planned walk during the day, leaving them in disarray and at the mercy of the more-prepared police forces who decided to start arresting later in the evening, after the vivid images of destruction were obtained (and played over and over and over).

But I am most disturbed by the ease with which our leaders surrendered our democratic rights in the name of ‘security’. When I posted my concerns on Facebook the response was, generally, ‘Oh yes, that Harper is so horrible,’ followed by silence when I pointed out that my biggest concern was with McGuinty and the Liberal Party of Ontario’s move to enact secret police powers under the Public Works Protection Act. Though temporary, the arbitrary right to detain, search, and arrest civilians is a terrifying glimpse of just how fragile our civil liberties are. Rights that have been won through blood and struggle over the past several hundred years. To see them wiped away for the sake of a political summit is unforgivable. I look forward to the Charter challenges, and class actions suits, should they proceed, and to the explanation by our Leaders as to how they justify forfeiting my rights for their convenience.

It is the Police Chief’s job to recommend over-the-top security measures, he’s a cop. To be cliché, when your tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I get that. I have little problem with Blair’s strategy this weekend, though some of his tactics were very questionable. But it is the job of a politician, a strong political leader (and this goes for the Mayor, the Premier, and the PM!) to say, “NO! The rights of our citizens are more important than that. We need to find a way to protect both the fence and the people of Toronto, including those who are protesting.” That is the job of a Leader, and if our leaders are too weak, or too uncaring to do that, then it is time to start looking for new ones. Right now.

Finally, this weekend has added more strength to my belief that voting Liberal or Conservative doesn’t make a bit of difference – they both care little about democracy. We need electoral reform so that every vote counts equally, and we need it now. We have leaders who have no reverence for democracy, or for the rights of their citizens, and that needs to change.

I’ve been captivated by happiness lately. I’m currently reading Marci Shimoff’s book, “Happy for No Reason” and have taken the last year to figure out what makes me happy. Interestingly, it was not a question I was raised to ask. In my family, we were concerned with financial security… and that was pretty much it. It was certainly better to be miserable and financially secure than to be taking a risk but ridiculously happy. And fulfilled? Authentic? It never even came up.

I came across this op-ed in the New York Times by David Brooks in March. Based on decades of research into happiness and fulfillment, Brooks makes the argument that “once the basic necessities have been achieved, future income is lightly connected to well-being… the United States is much richer than it was 50 years ago, but this has produced no measurable increase in overall happiness.” And yet, for most of us, money is where we focus almost all of our efforts.

It leads me to question our government’s focus on the economy. What is the point of focusing on increasing economic prosperity if it is only loosely related to the happiness and fulfillment of the populace? Or is being happy irrelevant to our society?

The current paradigm, based on consumerism and materialism, tells us that more money will buy us more stuff, give us more prestige, and make us happier. Stuff = Happiness.

So we tuck our heads down and work harder, harder, harder. We earn more money, we buy more stuff, we increase our standard of living again and again…

Why?

Why do we work so hard? Are we afraid? We are certainly told by media, religion and our government that there is much to be afraid of and that to be secure we have to have more money. More money = more security. Also, more money = more power. But why do we want power and security? I would argue that it is to feel fulfilled. Because we want to feel happy.

I think (and feel free to disagree) that we have allowed ourselves to be convinced that economic success at a national level = security = happiness. We, as a society, have developed tunnel vision that excludes all other possibilities for how to live. We glue ourselves to the daily stock reports, regardless of our investment portfolio, with mood swings tied to the vagaries of the Dow, NASDAQ, and TSE. What have we been thinking?

Our PM recently said that all other issues are a sideshow compared to the economy, especially at the G8, even as he proposes a global maternal health initiative (maybe they are looking to sell Canadian technology and pharma overseas…) and this is somehow acceptable. I think not.

The Green Party of Canada proposes a fundamental shift in this thinking. Money is important, there is no doubt. Maslow’s hierarchy makes it very clear that until we can provide ourselves and our loved ones with the basics of food, clothing and shelter, we cannot aspire towards greater things and greater happiness. Trust me, I totally understand that when one is worrying about money and what they will feed their kids tomorrow, it is hard to be lofty and spiritual.

But once we satisfy those basic needs, where do we aim our attention? Let’s say that I make lots of money and I have it invested well and I am feeling pretty secure. What then? Is that all there is to life? Security?

Brooks argues that the relationship between happiness and personal relationship (both intimate relationships and the social network) is very closely correlated. In study after study, “the daily activities most associated with happiness are sex, socializing after work, and having dinner with others. The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting… countries with high social trust have happier people, better health, more efficient government, more economic growth, and less fear of crime.”

Brooks concludes, “modern societies have developed vast institutions oriented around the things that are easy to count, not around the things that matter most. They have an affinity for material concerns and a primordial fear of moral and social ones.”

I don’t want to live a life solely focused on the ‘economy’ or the markets. Happily, the Green Party agrees with me. We propose the development and implementation of a Canadian Well-Being Index that would be used in conjunction with the GDP and other indices to present a more accurate measure of how Canadians are doing.

How we are really doing. Do we feel safe? Do we feel trust? Do we know our neighbours? Heck, do we know our kids and spouse? How strong are our connections to the community? How large are our social networks? Do we enjoy time in nature? Do we have access to beauty?

Because, ultimately, we all want to be happy. And our current system isn’t getting us there.