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.

Thanks to the ever-informative Jim Harris for the link to this article in the OilDrum today about global oil production in 2010 and the likelihood that we are seeing Peak Oil.

In the article, Nate Hagens points out that “what has happened in Canada the past decade is that cheap conventional barrels of oil have been replaced with expensive tar sands barrels of oil. The result? Running in place in terms of supply, but at a much higher cost structure.” As oil becomes more expensive to produce we ought to see a higher price per barrel. And that is not even counting the damage to the ecosystem and indigenous peoples near and downstream of the tar sands. This higher price, when passed along to consumers, will change our habits. We’ll buy more fuel-efficient vehicles and demand that our government provide better transit.

Hagens also points out that Canada, and the International Energy Agency, have been engaging in “channel stuffing” which means we’ve been lumping tar sands production, biofuels and natural gas liquids in with conventional crude production. They are not the same thing and mixing them together means only that we continue to delude ourselves for a little longer about global oil supplies.

If we are at Peak Oil, or have already passed it, the smart question becomes what do we do now? So far, our government has followed the U.S. lead of attempting to control as much global supply as possible, building infrastructure to ensure that whatever crude remains continues to flow in a favourable direction. This leads to increasing conflict, increasing deficits and a citizen base that is treated like children for as long as possible.

Of course, if you happen to be part of Transition Town, or the Green Party (or any number of other groups that are calling on consumers to wake up and become citizens), the choice you are faced with is, not how do I protect myself as long as possible so that I can continue to consume with wanton lust, but, instead, how do I lighten my impact on the planet and build local resiliency so that the coming changes don’t decimate my ability to survive and take the rest of humanity down with them.

And change is coming. Any politician who tells you that you can continue with your present standard of living indefinitely is lying to you.

We are already facing the largest income gap in Canada since 1929. The very richest among us, we’re talking the top 10%, continue to get richer, at accelerating rates. But the normal people like you and me, we’re slipping. Our real wages, those that account for inflation, have not increased since the early 80s.

What that means is that the average Canadian is working harder to make ends meet, or even worse, watching the ends fray and fall apart.

This while our governments continue to tell us that they have a handle on things. And that they’ll take care of us.

They don’t. And they can’t.

While in my more cynical moments I wonder if they even care that the average Canadian is slipping slowly out of the middle class, and won’t be able to retire, in general I am more optimistic. I figure they just don’t see a solution.

With their ideology, that of infinite growth, total globalization, and infinite resources, there is no solution. That’s because the neoliberal/neoconservative ideology can’t think small. They can’t look at a community and ask, “How can we make this work?”, or “What resources and genius do we have right here, at the municipal level?” And those are the questions that need to be asked.

The other Parties would ask, “How can we get bigger to get out of this mess?” while I’m asking, “How can we get smarter to get out of this?” The answers are very different and their way isn’t working.

And my way is more fun.

This pair of opinions from the National Post reveal an interesting facet of our current minority Parliament: the Opposition has made itself irrelevant.

Gerry Nicholls predicted that Harper would engineer the downfall of his own government in a last-ditch effort to win a majority. And that he would do it this Spring (most likely around a Budget that the Conservatives cannot reconcile with their record deficits), rather than waiting until 2012, when his own law requires a federal election.

Michael Taube was quick to respond that the numbers do not support a Harper majority, that they haven’t in at least a year, and are unlikely to in the coming months.

A conundrum perhaps? Perhaps. To me though, the most important point being made in these articles is not whether or not we will have an election, but that if we do have one it will be entirely of Mr. Harper’s making. He will have created the circumstances that cause the fall of his government and not the Opposition Parties who apparently have neither the power nor the gumption to take Canadians to the polls.

Again.

For the third time in four years.

At a cost of $300 million.

And that is what I’ll remember if I end up in a campaign this Spring. That our supposed economically-aware and competent leader has decided to blow another $300 million of taxpayer funds in a desperate attempt to win a majority.

I hope you’ll remember that as well.

Why not? They’re doing it for health care as well.

Thanks to William Munsey over at the Berry Patch for highlighting this threat in his latest post. He focuses on the ever-increasing plight of family farms, threatened by agri-business and indifferent government. The Green Party is certainly on the side of the small- to medium-sized farms and has an extensive policy to support them and make farming rewarding, financially as well as spiritually.

What concerns me here, what becomes an issue for the whole country, is the threat of NAFTA. As soon as we allow one jurisdiction to commoditize water we open the door to MNCs under NAFTA and our various free trade agreements.

Once we do that, we can kiss our right to water good-bye. Personally, I don’t want to live in a country where we have the most abundant freshwater resources in the world but we can’t access them, where they are no longer part of the Commons.

Let’s hope that the Council of Canadians and the Green Party hop on this bandwagon and rallies support to stop this move by a short-sighted, oil sands-obsessed government.

The recent Manning Centre 2010 Barometer found that 89% of Canadians (based on 1000 interviews) strongly believed that “nothing is more important than family,” a value the Manning Centre claimed for conservative ideology. This contention caused a bit of a stir – do conservatives have moral ownership of the ‘family’ issue?

One comment was that this focus on family (sounds conservative doesn’t it? It’s amazing how well their spin machines work) as the ‘most important thing’ flew in the face of Canadian values and the idea of ‘love thy neighbour’ and taking care of those less fortunate.

And it got me thinking, “Is family the most important thing?” and, as a politician, is it perhaps where I should be focusing. How about we claim family as a Green value – as THE Green value.

My family is the most important thing in the world to me. And I will do what it takes to protect them and ensure that they have a happy and healthy and safe future. That is why I am running for the Green Party. And that is why I think everyone who has kids, and wants to protect them, should vote Green.

This happened to coincide (I just love synchronicity, don’t you?) with an email I received from the most excellent Mr. Kempton, who runs the Albedo blog, and who was informing me that he had had a ‘minor revelation’ which I happen to think is actually pretty major – at least as it pertains to GPC policy.

“It occurred to me last week that we don’t have to get people to believe that climate change is real, or a great danger, etc. We just have to get them to act as if they believe it. Maybe that’s the basic concept behind pushing the positive economic, health, lifestyle effects of changing our ways of being on the planet… Passion and hope are more powerful, really.”

I have a confession to make: [deep breath] I couldn’t agree more. I can’t stand talking about climate change. I know that it is a GPC mainstay but I think it is nothing but detrimental to our cause. Because I think the truth is that climate change paralyzes most people – it is too big, too nebulous, and too easy to argue. Let’s talk about how we will help your family, your kids, your life.

And, as a political issue, climate change is useless. The people who get it have already gotten it, we need to reach the people who won’t get it. I know that fear is a great motivator when it comes to marketing but I don’t think it works as well when it is packaged as existential angst. It works when it is something much more concrete, like, ‘if you don’t use this pill, you’ll never have another erection.’ Now that gets some attention.

Telling people that there are massive planetary changes underway that will slightly increase the earth’s temperature and have catastrophic consequences leads to, ‘Woah! My brain shut down halfway through what you said and I’m now thinking about my shiny new car.”

Moreover, we don’t need it. The Green platform is amazing. We’re promoting healthy, vibrant, abundant communities where people know each other, care for each other, and have the resources they need, locally, to feel happy. We are offering an awakening, a re-vitalization of people’s lives, their homes, and, yes, their families. We actually care that people get to see their kids, that they aren’t spending two hours commuting every day, that they aren’t on the hamster wheel of ‘success’ but empty inside. Our Vision provides all of that.

We have the best plan for job creation.

We have the best plan for energy sustainability.

We have the best plan for food security.

We have the best plan for health.

We are offering passion, hope, and happiness. So let’s drop the focus on… what was it again?

Thanks to Treehugger for posting the new Annie Leonard video in honour of World Water Day 2010 – The Story of Bottled Water.

Well worth the watching, it lays out the product cycle for water bottles and the idea of Manufactured Demand. Of course, the site seems to be down right now (could it have crashed from too much traffic?), but I’m sure it will be back up soon.

“On his watch, the proportion of women on the government benches has fallen to 11 per cent, from 25 per cent under Paul Martin and 23 per cent under Jean Chrétien.”

I didn’t know that. How interesting. And distressing.

From this article by Carol Goar in the Star discussing Minister Guergis’ less than inspiring performance at the UN this week leading up to Monday’s celebration of International Women’s Day.

I was incredibly happy to hear the government state their commitment to investigating the ‘missing’ aboriginal women – over 500 of them now in both the throne speech and the budget.

I’ll believe it when it happens.

I was incredibly happy to hear the Mr. Harper’s primary objective as head of the G8 this year is to improve maternal and infant health.

I’ll believe it when the numbers change.

I’m simply passing this information along from the Facebook group, Proud to be a Member of That “Left-Wing Fringe Group” Called Women,* with the fervent hope that you will take action and write to your MPs, Minister Guergis and Mr. Harper. Our country has a very poor record when it comes to the treatment of aboriginal populations and aboriginal women have borne the brunt of this mistreatment.

Please help this group continue its work by making the Conservatives aware that we do care – about every person’s rights and dignity.

Thank you.

{snip}

{snip}

* The name of this group refers to a comment Mr. Harper made in a supposedly closed-door meeting in Thunder Bay where he commented on the cancellation of the Court Challenges program and proclaimed that they had shut down the influence of left-wing fringe groups. It’s at 3:40 of the video though you might enjoy his bragging about the cancellation of universal daycare at about 3:30. Sadly, one of, if not the major beneficiary of the Court Challenges program had been the equity and rights of women through many cases. It was a major loss to equity in this country and it slipped right by, almost un-noticed and un-challenged. We might as well change it to the Minister of State Against the Status of Women

[Letter number 2 in what will most likely be a series of Letters to the Editor of the Era-Banner that I am not allowed to send because I am a declared candidate for an election that will happen sometime in the future. I wish I had realized that when I declared for the Green Party I would lose my voice at the Era-Banner but such is life. Now I get to make my letters longer. Ha!]

Dear Editor,

Re: Voter turnout low because politicians lie, letter from Mr. L. Rothwell, Feb 11 / Re: If you care about democracy, vote, editorial, Jan 28

With all due respect to Mr. Rothwell I must challenge his hypothesis that when “80 per cent of voters… stay at home. Then, maybe, politicians will get the message.”

While there are a few directions my disagreement could take – including my belief that when 80% of voters stay home we will live in a true oligarchy where only the select few have any say in government and tyranny will reign and Canada will weep. Though, this scenario is fairly close to the mark with respect to municipal elections. Anyways.

That was not the point.

What I really wanted to dispute was Mr. Rothwell’s obvious anger towards ‘politicians’ and his categorization of them as “people who lack integrity and ethics.”

Of course, as a recently declared political candidate I take it a little personally that because of my political choice I suddenly have no integrity nor ethics. I actually consider myself to be a person possessing both integrity and a high ethical standard.

But that is still not the point, though closer to it. The point is – there are no politicians. There are merely people, just like Mr. Rothwell and myself, that have chosen to join in the political process.

Politicians are not usually born. They are made. They are people who have decided to pursue a public life – hopefully in the service of their country and the best interests of the electorate.

Do these people sometimes lose focus and become swayed by the pretty, shiny danglings of lobby groups? Yes.

Do they sometimes pursue power to the exclusion of everything else. Yes.

Do these people sometimes let us down? Yes. Often.

Do we have a democratic crisis in Canada? Yes. I believe we do.

But my point is that sitting at home and whinging about it is not the best use of one’s time.

Stand up. Get engaged. Make your voice count.

And if you can’t find a single political candidate that you can trust – then take the leap and become a candidate. For municipal, provincial, or federal politics quality candidates are desperately needed.

Of course, it would be super-spiffy if you would support me and my bid to be the first Green MP for Newmarket-Aurora, but if you can’t, then get your butt out there and run against me.

I also have an issue with your contention that “the population is a lot more educated these days.” Hardly. When the anti-proroguing rally was being organized most people did not even know that our democracy had been suspended. They didn’t understand what it meant. And they didn’t know why they should care. Some were happy to get the ‘liars’ out of Ottawa for a while. People know far more about what Britney Spears is up to than what our PM is doing showboating in Vancouver.

But that isn’t the politicians fault. If there are issues with our democracy it is because we expect ‘someone else’ to take care of it for us.

We are the change we wish to see. We are the smallest unit of a democratic society. And it is up to us to keep it safe and keep it strong. If we don’t have anyone to vote for then it is up to us to find them – or to become them. That is what I did. And it is what I encourage everyone else to do.

That is why I am so proud of local organizers like Liz, Neale, Nick, Carter and everyone else who helped make the January 23rd rally such a success – and who are now organizing a public meeting in Aurora on February 25.

Holding the Line on Democracy will take a frank look at what is happening in our society and, hopefully, send people away feeling more educated, more empowered, and more motivated to take action to keep our democracy strong.

Mr. Rothwell, I am personally inviting you to join us. It’s kind of fun to be around other people who care as passionately as you obviously do.