Speech to LINC school

On December 20th I attended my first all candidates panel at a LINC school in the Beaches-East York riding (filling in for Jim Harris who was traveling the country). Thank you to Michael for organizing this. Here is the text of my speech - sorry that it is point form. If I get a chance I will edit it...

- introduction

- I will answer your questions as honestly and as specifically as I can and if I cant answer them I will follow up with answers to Michael if thats ok

- you have a very good riding here with very strong candidates Maria Minna Federal Member of Parliament, Marilyn Churley Provincial Member of Parliament, Peter Conroy business person and you have the leader of the Green Party
- you have choice every election very important that you look at the candidate and what the party stands for

- How many have heard of the green party?

- without boring you too much I want to give you a quick lesson of who the green party is

- The first Green Party New Zealand in 1970 35 years later there are Green Parties in over 100 countries around the world

- Africa (Egypt and South Africa),
- Asia (China, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Iran)
- Europe (Russia)
- North America
- South America (Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile)

there are green members in governing coalitions in Mexico, New Zealand, Italy, Germany and France with members elected in over 30 countries around the world in BC 12 Greens were just elected to city council.

In Canada almost 600,000 people voted for the Green Party in the last election and we are going to do even better in this election

Why is that? Why are so many people voting green?

David Suzuki seminar -
- air travels, within 1 year someone on the other side of the world will be breathing the same air

- if I pollute the air here I pollute the air there, the environment knows no boundaries

- one person polluting, 2 people 3 (invite them) up we have long ago surpassed the planets ability to clean up after us not based on number of people by the way NA- more than 100 times someone from India

And that leads us to one thing that is very important to the green party

The Green Party recognizes the fact that there is only one earth and that we all have to live together as neighbours on this planet.

- so the green party stands for environment not because its a nice thing to do but because our lives your life and my life, the air we breath, the water we drink the food we eat depends on it without a healthy environment we can have no health

- the green party is about more than the environment it is about social justice

When I grew up I watched on TV, commercials for organizations that raised money for food and other things for poor countries. Canada is richer even then we were at that time. Yet those commercials are still on TV why are people starving no one argues there is enough food.

But it gets worse in 1989 all the parties adopted a resolution to end poverty in Canada by the year 2000. In 2005 there are more children being raised in Canada poverty then in 1989 over 1,1 million people people that depend on food banks to get by

The Green Party finds this and many other social issues totally unacceptable.

The Green Party is also fiscally responsible. Many of us own and operate small business and we do not like wasting money.

The Green Party believes that all the social woes that Canada faces can be solved in a responsibly financial manner. Not heavier taxes but not cutting taxes either.

And there is one more thing that the Green Party stands for that separates us from any of the other parties here.

The Green Party thinks long term not just about what can we do to get elected but what decisions can we make today so that our children and grand children will have healthy and happy life.

In fact we think with 7 generations in mind. This is based on the Iroquois way of thinking in that we can only know our generation, 3 in the past and 3 in the future.