The Green Party must be more pragmatic to garner the votes needed to win a seat at any level of government. Ideals are wonderful, but there must be comprimise. The new leader must be realistic and must reach out to the community at large, not to a few 'tree huggers'. They did it in Europe and we can do it here!

As mainstream political parties move to the right of centre, Canada will suffer the same fate as America (caused by the Democratic & Republican merging their primary goals): indifference by the electorate and a lack of participation by citizens. Policical parties are SUPPOSED to be about ideals. Certainly right wing parties know that. If the Green Party can stay focused on ideals of sustainability and responsible economic activity, it is likely many, many Canadians will support them. "Personality" and "candidate appeal" is thus secondary. Which is not to say good leadership isn't important. It is, but conceptually, it is subordinate to the ideals of a party. I wish the Green party success.

two non-events happening concurrently and both the Liberals and the Greens haven't figured out they are out of touch with the vast majority mainstream Canadians.

Appealing to the margins of the electorate is a clear losing strategy.

Carry on kiddies.

Chris H

The media (Canwest holdings including Global TV )only, for the first time published articals about & pushing the Greens in the last BC Elections to try and take votes from the NDP and it worked, surprise, surprise.
People are like lost sheep in BC.
The media trashed the NDP w/fast ferries, sundecks, etc for months?
Now with Campbell's all out push for Privatisation of Health care, BC Hydro, Criminal involvment in BC Rail scandal, now secret talks about privitizing our very basic water rights! ALARMS Should be going off in 3 million British Columbians heads?? Why, are we all sheep, the BC liberals think so. Lets show them that they are wrong!
PEOPLE POWER July 1st is Canada Day we can take back our Province, British Columbia then OUR country CANADA.
The media is full of non news, we never hear about real news affecting our rights
I hear Global papers are loseing or have lost 140,000+ subscribers.

Actually, i would say this is the first real leadership race the Greens have ever had where they have gotten any media coverage. It's a sign that they are moving forward.

Also, I have to agree with David Chernushenko that they need a leader who's about more than just the environment. They do have a lot of steroetypes to overcome, but if they can do that, they can seriously compete in coming elections.

Oh, and B.C. Dude: You have any big plans on Canada day or do you just think it would be nice? Calling for people power does help when you act afterwards.

I do not think it matters who leads the Green Party, as most Canadians' vision for the future appears to be "more of the same" (just look at how greenhouse gas emissions have increased depsite pledging to reduce and hold at 1990 levels.

Only when the crisis (soaring energy costs; avian flu; west nile virus; earthquake; incvreased flooding; terrorist actions, and so on) comes will there be a willingness to change.

I also think that all political parties follow the same economic paradigm-growth is good and a requirement. Of course the media (as noted in others' posts) makes it money from advertising sales, which of course depend on consumers and ever growing consumption!

I don't think the greens are advocating a steady state economy (if so I would support them), which to me would be a requirement of sustainability.

Andrew McLeod has written a nice descriptive article. I would like to add some analytical points.

The Green Party is in search of a constituency. There is little chance of the Green Party gaining a federal seat because it has to compete against the established parties.

Federal politics is as much about dividing the economic pie, as about values. The minute Green Party has no means of influencing the budget, unless Federal politics becomes extremely fragmented as in some European countries where there is proportional representation.

It doesn’t matter who becomes the party leader. It will only pick up the ideological and protest votes. BTW, I have spoke to Elizabeth May. She seems like a nice and capable person, but not a politician. Alias for Ms May, politicians often win by exploiting popular discontent and prejudices.

The Federal Green Party may do better if there is an elected senate. However, this is not likely to occur at this time.

It seems to me that the Green Party is more likely to find a constituency in provincial politics. For example, there is discontent with Gordon Campbell’s mining policies. Mining companies and pseudo-miners are disturbing Land and homeowners. See Kendyl Salcito’s June 14 article in the Tyee.

Logically, this would seem to be an opportunity for Adriane Carr to exploit local issues that the federal party cannot. Ironically, the provincial Green Party is likely to aid Gordon Campbell by taking protest votes from the NDP.

Hence, there have been some attempts to reach an understanding between the NDP and the Green Party.

The bad news is that the Green Party is likely to flounder along for the foreseeable future. David Chernushenko is right in that the party’s future lies in politics; i.e. serving the electorate. This may seem obvious to most of us. But, the party’s idealists believe that ‘right is might’.

God bless the idealists, and the humble politician!

In most democratic societies there are many parties.
Most of them are splinter groups from the main parties, such as the religious socialists and so on.
So certainly there is room for a green party, as long as they realize their agenda only pleases a small minority.
As far as the workings in a parliament, they would have to declare where they stand on other issues.
basically the NDP has proven over the years to be somewhat concerned about the environment, and that is a realistic approach in my book. There has to be copmpromises!

jimtan said: "Logically, this would seem to be an opportunity for Adriane Carr to exploit local issues that the federal party cannot. Ironically, the provincial Green Party is likely to aid Gordon Campbell by taking protest votes from the NDP. "

First of all the NDP, nor Liberals nor Greens OWN votes, they EARN them.

The NDP are NOT a protest party - the are a part of the establishment and therefore part of the problem. We know the record of the NDP in givernment in regard to the environment and it is no better than the Liberals, regardless of what province.

The BC Greens remain an alternative vote to both the Liberals and NDP here in BC and EARN votes from traditional supporters of both these parties.

Rockerbiff is right. Each party must earn its votes.

There is also a trick to protest voting. You have to scare the incumbent party.

For example, in West Vancouver-Garibaldi 2005 Dennis Perry resigned from the Eagleridge Coalition to run with the Green Party. The Green Party won 26%. That’s a good historical result. But, the Greens had no prospect of challenging the incumbent party because it did not win the hard-core NDP vote.

The Liberals won only 50.8%. That’s a poor historic result. But, the fragmented opposition posed no threat to the incumbent party.

In 2005, the Green Party took as many voters from the NDP as from the Liberals. So, the NDP also didn’t have a chance of threatening the Liberals. Ideally, Dennis should have run with the NDP on a combined anti-Liberal platform.

Of course, I’m saying this in retrospect. It would probably have been impossible to run an alliance with the NDP even in one riding. Nonetheless, this illustrates my point about the difficulty of being a small party in a two-horse race.

Unless the Green Party becomes politically adroit and embraces a wider ideological spectrum, it has little chance of winning the elections. It can make brave noises in public, but power resides within the Legislature.

Next election I'll be bracing myself for a new onslaught of attacks on the Green Party and its new leader.

I was amazed and disturbed by the amount of smearing of the Greens and its leader that was posted by Tyee contributors last Federal election, and in the last BC election. Apparently, such posters view the Greens as a threat to the NDP. By smearing the Green Party they hoped to sway Green votes over to the NDP.

Unfortunately, they're likely to simply piss off environmentally conscious voters by such tactics, perhaps making Green votes more, not less likely. I do hope they will show more respect to the G.P. next time around.

Correction: The article states: "...B.C. Green Party leader Adriane Carr, who herself came to politics through her experience with the West Coast Wilderness Committee". This implies that Carr was uninvolved in politics until recently, which is incorrect. She was originally an NDP activist who realized, at the time ('70s - early '80s?) that "NDP" and "environmentalism" were like oil and water. Her views were unwelcome and were actively suppressed by NDP brass. So, in the early '80s, inspired by the Green political movement in Europe, she co-founded the original BC Green Party. At some point she decided to concentrate her energies instead on the WCWC. By since becoming BC Green Party leader, she has come full circle, back to political involvement.

You can't possibly get for left-wing than the Greens. It makes NDP look like Geo W. Bush - or at least Governor Klein.
The Greens have so far been able to garner votes from people who are completely pissed with all the other parties. They're certainly not ready to govern but just want a couple of seats for their voices to be heard... and that's all they'll ever get.

Hopefully they are more than a party to go to following a nuclear holocaust

first sentence above... 'for' should be 'more'.

Dave Barrett and his NDP established the Agricultural Land Reserve. and put a stop to the paving over of all our farm land!
Every other party since has tried to get bits and pieces out of that ARL, so who is for, and who is against?
Harcourt established so many provincial parks that you would have trouble naming them, and now guess who wants to go mining there?
Provincially the NDP had a chance to prove its commtiment to the environment, and on the federal level they do what is possible when a small third party!
Certainly the greens can find even more things that should be done, but you cannot run a government on the idea of only worrying about the environment.

Very interesting to hear people discussing the Green Party. In Kelowna, the most pro development place in Canada, we have been able to steadily increase our Green party percentage of the populare vote while spending only a tiny fraction of the other parties.

Our media campaign was focused on a few simple policies:

The Green Economy Creates Green Jobs e.g certified organic
agriculture, healthy house construction etc.

Health Care Means Prevention e.g. local food for local schools

Income Disparity Creates Crime e.g. high Kelowna crime rate is related to income disparity

In the last Federal Election we got 8% of the popular vote and had the newly elected sustainable development mayor of Kelowna give the keynote speech at our fundraiser.

The media and many Canadians feel that if you cannot win a seat then you cannot be effective but Jim Harris was able to shift the focus from how much money is being spent on healthcare to the importance of prevention. The NDP now talks about how green they are and even Gordon Campbell is promoting the link between fresh food and children's health.G.reen party ideas are having an impact on the policies of the other parties, this is the first step to increasing peoples comfort level with voting for the Green party

We do not have all the answers but Green Party members across Canada are starting to develop a common vision of the right questions. We are all acting locally on issues we believe in and not just talking.

The most at risk bioregion in Canada is the Arctic. Federal Green party policy is committed to increasing our military presence in the Arctic in order to monitor this important region, increase our serach and rescue capability, ensure increased shipping meets our environmental laws and maintaining our sovereignty. The Americans are not our allies in the North since they do not recognize our sovereignty in this area. We need to focus on the Inuit and creating strategic alliances with Russia, Norway and other Nordic countries.

We have the money to buy military icebreakers from these people and then let them help us build more. Instead Stephen BUSH Harper has abandoned the north to the USA and has bought equipment from America in order to support their aggressive actions in the Middle East.

How is this good for Canadian families? How is this good for the Canadian economy? Will this preserve the fragile Arctic region? Our definition of sustainable is that it must be good for the economy, it must benefit workers and their families and local communities and it must not harm the environment.

Nunavut could be the first place in Canada to elect a federal Green party member. I will continue to promote these ideas to my fellow Greens because they are based on clear economic trend and they address the concerns of Canadians to move away from an unproductive dependence on a bankrupt and war like USA. It also is a practical way to protect the Arctic, the most at risk region from global warming.

the green party is like christianity. it looks good from a distance but once you check it out there are a lot of warts.

Which is why the urgent issues you're mentioning don't get aired; the big media aren't concerned with your rights, but your role as consumers for their advertising. Alarmed, politically-conscious populations are not good consumers, nor do they do what they're told as the big media prefer it.

As long as the big media maintain a lock on public discourse in this country,

. It's that simple.

Tessa, If U think Canwest were doing the Greens a favour, then U are not thinking & are easily swayed, the only reason was to take votes away from the NDP & it worked. Green voters have only themselfs to blame for this Fiberal BC Gov.
So what's wrong with doing or suggesting some kind of resistance to the BS fed to us every day by the so called elected dictators in power now & their Canwest rags?
I don't buy/watch any Canwest papers or Global news only CBC news with an open mind.
And July 1st seems to be a great day for this as I'm a proud Canadian!
Anyway have a great weekend!

The simple fact of the matter is that the Greens cannot field any credible candidates. They should be going after an electable candidate. That is where their efforts should be if they want to grow the party. Find a high profile candidate (someone like David Suzuki - I doubt he'd do it) and parachute him/her into a riding that they have a shot at winning. Getting people actually elected will do more to further the ideas of the party than anything else. Currently, the Greens have no exposure and little voice. That could change if they could get their act together. Once they actually have people sitting in parlament, the party itself will be credible enough for people to look at it as anything other than a protest vote.

Jack's:

And you can name a party which is...........?

And you can name a party which is...........?

No party is ready or eager, but primarily the voters are not interested enough to look for a change!
They are all lulled to sleep, by our wonderful media!

Voix pour la Partie Verte, I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.

Gloomy:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/06/16/harper-puppet.html

If Canadians are naive, it is only because little effort is made to provide them (us) with topical and comprehensive information. Our very politicians for the most part are telling us to leave everything up to them. In any other context, our PM calling us naive would arouse indignation and protest, from the press and the general population. We are not encouraged to make informed comparisons - we are in fact discouraged, coming to depend on kneejerk reactions to the "flavour of the moment".

Naive that’s putting it mildly, especially when considering the poor number of voters that turn out for our elections.
Should this also be blamed on the media ?

During the last Parliament Environment Minister Dion pushed a Bill then known as C-15. An Act to amend the Migratory Birds and wildlife Act.

The purpose of the amendments to the exisiting legislation was to seek a mechanism that would make it easier to catch and prosecute rouge ships that dump their oily bilge water within 200 miles of Canada's EEZ.

At the time this bill would have been the only legislative work completed by the Federal Liberals. But then Ms. Stronach crossed. The governemnt did NOT seek to consult the shipping industry nor labour. The bill was more or less promulgated in secret.

The bill became public knowledge when it got to third reading. Upon examination of the bill I and others noted serious flaws in its drafting. So serious that it leaves the legislation practicaly useless.

I put in significant effort in writing an analytical submission for the Senate, where the legislation arrived next. I also appeared before the Senate.

My submssion and testimony sought to find a friendly amendment to the legislation. Amendment that would allow Canadian and particularly foriegn seafarers to assist Canadian Transport authorities in investigation. As well allow for foreign crew to whistleblow.

The catch was that Canada would not place the entire burden of proof on the seafarer. In other words a seafarer is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

I testified that foriegn seafarers do not pump oily waste out because they like to do it, but because they have to do it. If they don't they loose their jobs, and if they complain to a labour organization they are blacklisted. Foreign shipowners hide behind a corporate veil. The legislation cannot reach the owner who is hiding behind a number of offshore companies and may reside in Greece for example. So it leaves the seafarer with the only exposure.

Anyway, all of that is a very long and complicated story. However, the point I will make is that Elizabeth May testifed that the loss of presumption of innocence does not violate the Charter. She could not recognize the flaws in the bill, and wanted it rammed through.Regardless of the fact that stakeholders had not been consulted. Regardless that the bill would be Charter challanged. Regardless that the bill would not capture the worse rouge polluters. Regardless that it would only capture some of the worlds most isolated and marginalized workers. Poor seafarers from the developing world.

Elizabeth May will be a fine politician. She doesn't believe in due process and will pass a bill for optics not the environment. What a disappointment that she is supposed to be one of the bright lights in the environmental movement. Just another opportunist I'm afraid.

I'll see you on the next oily beach Ms. May. I'll be the one offering solutions while you are posing for the camera's Perhaps you will get off your high horse and listen to those who have a real interest in the environment, instead playing politics.

Yes the voters are naive!

My point is that the media is doing a damn good job of whitewashing all the blunders that pass for legisltion!

It does not matter if you talk about environment, Afghanistan or gun-control, the average Joe has been barraged with so much info and mis-info that he shakes his head and declares that they all are idiots and thieves.

While that sounds bad it serves the purpose of making Joe Doe hesitate to take the time to study what really has happened and consequently go out to vote. In other words the media has done its job for its masters.

I agree Gloomy, I should have included apathy along with being naive.

PeteL:

I have always wondered why a ship that dumps oil is not confiscated, and sold to defray cleanup costs.

Or am I one of those naive Canadians who thinks that simple works?

Or is it that the likes of Paul Martin is afraid he will lose his ships.......?

Or am I one of those naive Canadians who thinks that simple works?

Rick, your absolutely right. Fines against ships should begin at $500,000 and go up from there. The reason a ship is referred to as a "she" is because the vessel should be treated as a person would be before the law and in Admiralty Court.

To go after the Sri Lankan, or Filipino 3rd Engineer is Ms. May's solution. Clearly this is counter productive and will never be the solution to a serious problem.

I hope Green Party members will ask Ms. May to produce evidence that her work on the amendments to the MBCA, paid for by public donations to the Sierra Club have actually resulted in cleaner oceans.

My evidence shows the opposite. Foriegn crew will no longer be able to cooperate with investigations or blow the whistle.

So none of the leadership candidates have experience holding elected office?

Seems that if Green Party city councilors and school board officials don't want to run for leader, then there is something wrong with the Green Party.

Could it be that it has become a second home to conservatives who pushed out many of the envirnmentalists? Latest I heard from a former Progressive Conservative turned Green is that community groups are not beneficial in environmental protection. He was a corporated lawyer so I guess corporations have to look after the environment. Do I smell government-corporate bonding in the air or is that offal?

Seems like being leader of the Green Party would just be something to increase one's lucre as a public speaker, not something that would seriously help the country. But please don't let "Canada's most environmental Prime Minister" and his cronies take over.

Contrary to popular belief the greens are not a left wing party. They are a right wing party with an environmental platform.

Elizabeth May is considered the front-runner and, like Harris before her, she is an old Mulroneyite. More importantly, since Harris ran most of the higher echelon left-leaning members out of the party, it very much mirrors the policies of the old Progressive Conservative Party.

If they could get their message out more effectively, the Greens would be an excellent option for disaffected red tories who aren't comfortable with the regressive social and anti-environmental leanings of the Harper Conservatives. If the Liberals choose a more centrist leader, many blue Liberals would also be fairly comfortable within the Green Party.

If we had proportional rep with 4.5% of National vote they received they would have had 14 seats in Ottawa.

no1important: I agree with your Green assessment. But to the extent that they succeeded in portraying their green mandate, I've always felt uncomfortable about that visceral rejection of them (less uncomfortable, after Jim Harris).

But today, I read that the Green Party is ... well, here's the final paragraph of a report, with link to the full story:

The illusions harboured by their voters—who come mainly from among students and those voting for the first time—will rapidly evaporate. The Greens were only able to get into parliament at all because they could still present themselves as a force that brings a “breath of fresh air” into politics. In the Czech Republic, at least, they have never been in government before and therefore have not yet had an opportunity to show their true face and discredit themselves.

This is now changing. In Prague, the Greens are showing their true colours.

wsws.org/articles/2006/jun2006/czec-j19.shtml

Elizabeth May conveniently overlooks a lot...and waaaay too easily fell for the intentional con job Mulroney played on the environmental movement all along.

By casting her vote for Mulroney as the greenest PM she fell for all Mulroney's ploys like his Green Plan, his National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, and the North American acid rain treaty...all sound good but were specifically intended to placate and co-opt the environmental movement into the service of industry.

Just like Campbell's phony Round Table on Education...these are basically attempts at distraction.. to hide the fact that no substantive change is actually really happening.

Ms. May thus fell for what Wayne Roberts refers to as Mulroney's "empty gestures to environmentalists" that cleverly allowed him (with the support of the environmental movement) to "entrench anti-environmentalism into these unseen structures."

By placating and co-opting the environmentalists, he removed them as a threat to industry's status quo.

It was a clever, subversive move on Mulroney's part, custom made to facilitate his corporate friends... that Elizabeth May could not see that or ignored the fact of it, speaks volumes.

Ms May is a very well bought & paid for neocon in sheep’s clothing!
Green votes or in BC votes for (Hic) Gordo, he should have been thrown out @ the time as being unfit to govern.
The latest news June 15 2006 on the BC Legislature raids in Dec 03 http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/

Who is paying for these "Beautiful BC" commercials on the boobtube, TV?

Elizabeth May gets my vote. I have never heard of the other two candidates. The Greens need a bit of glamour. All this serious talk about policies misses the point. People vote with their feelings, as much as with their intellect. We need to capture the imagination of the electorate, not try to snag them with scare tactics.

The statement that needs to be made is, "Here's what we are going to do better" not "Look at all those screw-ups in power". We have heard that song for years. It gets old, fast.

Realistically, the Greens need to position themselves to be the party with leverage, rather than the party with the most votes.

FYI: The Green Party is neither left nor right on the political spectrum, rather it is "out front". The philosphy as I understand it (I ran federally in the last election) is that good ideas are good ideas and it doesn't matter who or where they are generated from. If the Conservatives have a good idea let us use it, likewise for the NDP. Now more than ever we need to move away from polarized politics, cause we've got bigger problems that are going to provide a very rude aawakening. Perhaps that is what we are all waiting for.

Everyone wants to be right, or think he/she knows something the rest of us don't. Guess what? Only time will tell and by then it's too late. Being right doesn't matter very much. Caring, compassion, learning, growing, loving is what matters. The rest is cultural artifice born of social structures that dictate our behaviour. The structure is flawed and our actions a reflection of that discontect with place and relationship. Hell we don't even have a language to use in discussing the challenges we face.

Here is a simple and deeply profound question: What will it take to become indigenous once again? --not as we were, but as we might be?

PS: By all accounts, I won all the public debates, but media paid no attention and the public that attended were partizan in most cases.

We, the bewildered herd, cannot trust the shepherds for on our flesh they dine....

Seismic air gun
According to Exxon Mobile there is no "Proof" that blasting enough energy into the coastal water to return an usable return signal from bottom sediments for oil and gas prospecting could harm a whale or a dolphin or a squid.
I actually spent some time studying geology and got out for (more or less) this reason.
Forgive them, Lord, They Know not what they do! It just so happens that "they" do what ever they please.

Put yourself in a bathysphere and listen while some "exploration" company uses up all it's unspent budget depth charging your local continental shelf.

Then imagine an animal tuned to a sonic environment surviving that.
Don't be silly

Vote Green

First, I come at politics in this latter part of my life with a great suspicion of all political parties, and a not good experience with any of them. And like, I believe it was Mary, who kind of says in a different way what Billy Pilgrim does above, my suspicion with the current Greens, and their vanguardist "out front" rather than left or right claims, is that they just haven't been close enough to real power yet that we or they can make any serious claims about themselves.

We still have to see, and their international record as a "progressive" movement, most evident there in the Czech Republin, but also in Germany where they have much actually been co-opted by the pro-business and market forces system, is not good. And here, in this country, their leadership has tended to be highly "academic", upper middle-class elitist weighted and Old Progressive Conservative, so as to have been much anything but stellar-, certainly from my lower working class view of the economy and politics. (Towards which class element they have in fact come across as especially hostile "in practice" actually, and far short of understanding that class's modern predicament.)

Still, many of us are near desparate enough for some sign of a progressive political development within the country, that we are waiting cap in hand for the Greens to prove us wrong. Hoping that they will.

And there are good and progressive people in the Greens, I know that, many who write here in Tyee quite often, but many a good and sincere person has before been disappointed by politics and parties. And this haughty, mustn't get our hands dirty, "above left and right" politics have come out of the right before in this country and my lifetime, certainly the old Liberal Party, but the Progressive Conservatives as well, and the vanguardist "out front" claims of some Greens does anything but impress me. I've heard that claim before too-, to my ultimate disappointment and that of a good many others.

Nope. The NDP is currently shitt in my "left" view. But that doesn't convince me that the Greens are any better or "deserve a chance" nonetheless. I'm still waiting to see the beef. And I'm one cynical sonofabeech. And convinced that is a "rational" attitude to have right now.

(Some Green people saying some good things, and then many others more the same old, same old status quo kiss asss stuff.)

Though they are right about one thing, they are pretty much neither left nor right. Which puts them precisely in that proverbial mugwamp vanguard going nowhere place.

But if it's any consolation to you Greens, ah is watchin' you. As I suspect are many others here, waiting to catch a worthwhile and exciting next wave passing through. But alas, still no shimmy and shake in the old derierre there yet though, that catches my jaded blue collar fantasy. Errr. fancy. :-)

While Roth’s predecessor as head of the Greens, Joschka Fischer, has recently been rewarded for his services to the American state and its war in Iraq with a plum job at Princeton University, his successor has no problem lining up with extreme right forces in Germany in a campaign that plays into the hands of those calling for new imperialist aggression in the Middle East. - WSWS web-site.

Way back in BC history, W.A.C. Bennett successfully re-labelled himself as Social Credit -- successful because most British Columbians had to guess what it meant, got it wrong, and voted him in. Just as we're in danger of doing these days with the Greens.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. These Greens should more honestly be described as Fig Leafs, as the label appears to be only a cover up.

If this new deception succeeds in bringing even harsher Conservative policies of repression into force, it will be a rotten deplorable shame when survival depends now upon our unselfish commitment to cleaning up -- truly greening -- the environment.

Coyote and BC Mary both making excellent observations above.

I certainly agree that there are a number of good and progressive Greens who comment on Tyee whose views I very much respect... but too many of us now are tired of being fooled by all political parties....of leaders/poseurs on all sides wasting extremely precious time at such a precarious juncture in the history of this country by bedding the tired old status quo that is destroying us all....when our survival as a country and a people now depends on a more courageous and visonary path. One with a sense of aliveness and conviction..."the shimmy and shake" Coyote refers to.... the courage of conviction to stand on guard for Canadian sovereignty...and the necessary risky behavior of speaking out loudly and fearlessly in defense of it.

In my view at least, Elizabeth May's vote for Mulroney at such a critical time for Canada, puts her under the status quo sheets with the rest of them.

And the Green Party, despite their lofty affront at being scrutinized...are not exempt from it... nor above it...because in this time of falsity and lies so much now depends on the very simple but seemingly rare quality of being genuine and true.

The Green Party is a political animal. The people vying for leadership have their own agendas, have a history and are human. There are no superheroes in this crowd.

I think the age of heroes and 'great leaders' is past - there are none on the horizon so we may have to be our own heroes and lead ourselves out of the mess that Big Corporations and their sponsored governments have got us into.

Elizabeth May, David Chernushenko and Jim Fannon all have some baggage. David was in Kelowna recently and I liked what he had to say and his approach to developing the party at the local and national level. He is sincere and intelligent and has experience in business and has advised Olympic committees on environmental issues.

There is a lack of unifying ideas that can inspire Canadians to rise up to the challenges that confront us all. Stephen Harper has a vision - Canada will become part of the USA & will follow along with whatever George Bush, the War Criminal President says. The Liberals just want to get power again- no vision, no ideas , just get power. The NDP, well they sacrificied all the programs they wrestled from Paul Martin for the sake of a few more seats in BC. The BLOC just wants a Quebec hockey team... I mean, no wonder young people are not voting in huge numbers!!!

What is most appealing to me about the Green Party is that it is not structured yet, it is still a work in progress. People have a chance to get involved and influence policy and help get active ideas in front of people.

Many people that post to this site have great ideas and are very intelligent so we need your input. Like Mink said, we are trying to take ideas from business and labour and combine that with an envrionmental perspective. We are still a work in progress and that is why people are confused about what our message is.

PeteL is correct, politics as it is played now is not about solving real problems - it is about winning seats, getting media attention and earning donations. Lynn and Coyote are right to be skeptical of the Greens, we do not have a track record and other Green Parties in other countries have not delivered once they got into power. ( I would say they lost their focus and did what was needed to stay in power )

Does that mean we just let the powers that be take us all over the cliff? Does anyone believe that things will get better on their own? Canadians love to complain but working to change things, well that is a bit harder to do.

I have no doubt that Green party members have had an impact on the political debate in this country. It is good you are taking a look at us Mr. Coyote because we need your wit and sharp tongue to keep us honest.

Rob: "There is a lack of unifying ideas that can inspire Canadians to rise up to the challenges that confront us all. Stephen Harper has a vision - Canada will become part of the USA & will follow along with whatever George Bush, the War Criminal President says. The Liberals just want to get power again- no vision, no ideas , just get power. The NDP, well they sacrificied all the programs they wrestled from Paul Martin for the sake of a few more seats in BC. The BLOC just wants a Quebec hockey team... I mean, no wonder young people are not voting in huge numbers!!!"

Oops!

To anxious!

Rob: "There is a lack of unifying ideas that can inspire Canadians to rise up to the challenges that confront us all. Stephen Harper has a vision - Canada will become part of the USA & will follow along with whatever George Bush, the War Criminal President says. The Liberals just want to get power again- no vision, no ideas , just get power. The NDP, well they sacrificied all the programs they wrestled from Paul Martin for the sake of a few more seats in BC. The BLOC just wants a Quebec hockey team... I mean, no wonder young people are not voting in huge numbers!!!"

What I wanted to point out by quoting Rob is that therein lies the problem-It seems mopst Canadians, including politicians, have no vision other than: More of the Same.

I supopose we have to wait for the crisis(s) before Canadians will actually contemplate a change in direction!

It is little wonder that Canada is'visionless'(blind) as the neo-cons co-opted the Liberal platform hewing as closely as possible to their policies as makes little or no difference .
This was done with cynical deliberation to fool the electorate into believing that they were voting for something else to gain power for powers sake .
All Harpo talked about for seventeen months was bringing the Governement down so he could replace Paul Martin .
Harpo screeched like a scalded cat when Belinda Stronach could no longer stomach the weasel antics of the neo-cons .
Now we are left dangling in the wind with no direction other than hard right(evangelical) .
Harpo is pandering to the Christian right with his postrure on same sex marriage and he will lose big time .
Not that it really matters in the greater scheme of things as one is as myopic as the other .
Regime change for the sake of change is a dangerous thing as evidenced by the all nit-wit crew now inhabiting the Governments seats .
I will ,in all probabilty,sit out the next election unless the Liberals give me a compelling reason not to .

Gordo in 2000 speech [Whether it's politics, pricing or just straight economics, independent power producers have been discouraged at every turn in this province. I want to change that and I want to change it big time.]
http://www.handsoffhydro.com/whosbehind.cfm
There are 3,000,000+ people in BC & only 1 dictator with his bunch of spineless bum boys..Come on there has to be some way to put this drunkard out to pasture.