May 2006 Newsletter

Thank you! I'd like to start by thanking all the people who supported the green Party in the last federal campaign with their vote, their words of encouragement, putting a Green Party sign on their lawn and by making donations of time and/or money. It was a huge success thanks to you. I also want to thank all who voted Green or otherwise because all of our votes are important. Thank you so much.

Election Results - The poll by poll results are now out and the results were quite gratifying for the Green Party. Nationally we are up over 14%, provincially up 16% and in Don Valley East up almost 50%. In Don Valley East, we got the highest number of votes in the poll where I live. In the surrounding polls where I was personally able to knock on doors we did very well and this was followed by the polls where we had flyers delivered. To me this means the flyer we used (which was packed with info.) was well received and that the more people know we exist the more votes we will get. We could only get flyers out to about 4,000 people (out of 40,000) due to a shortage of money, people power and experience, all things we hope to improve on in our next election.

Other Green Election Successes - The Green Party received 665,940 votes nationally, up almost 100,000 votes from the prior election. We had 8 ridings with over 10% of the vote; up from 3 the previous election. 10% is an important marker because candidates that reach that level will have 50% of the ridings campaign expenses reimbursed by the government. We had one riding that placed second and two ridings that placed 3rd. Most importantly all the polling companies asked specifically about the Green Party when polling though many still displayed the results as other.

What do the election results mean for the Green Party? To me it means that the 2004 election where we did so well with over half a million voters is not a fluke and that there are many Canadians that firmly believe that the policies of the Green Party are a viable alternative to what is being offered by the other parties. In fact the other parties are borrowing/stealing/adopting our policy as their own and this is good news for all Canadians. The number of votes also gives us more leverage to pressure the private companies to let the Green Party be part of the televised debate.

Wasted Votes - There was much discussion about whether a vote for the Green Party or any party other than the only two parties who currently had a chance at a majority was a "wasted" vote. First thing is that any party that gets over 2% of the national vote, gets $ 1.75 per vote per year from the Federal government paid quarterly until the next election. Second thing is the more votes for the Green Party the more the other parties are going to change their policy to get those votes. Under our current system any ridings that tend to vote the same way all the time (ours for example), you could say that a vote for any other party is a wasted vote and that is why we need to change our system - so every vote counts.

Democracy in Canada - The only 3 countries in the western world that use our "first past the post system" are The U.K., The U.S. and Canada. All other countries have changed to a more democratic form of proportional representation where every vote counts. Check out "fairvotecanada.org". Currently Canada ranks 109th out of 163 countries in terms of voter turnout. In Ontario in 2000, 2.3 million voters elected 100 Liberals, while the other 2.2 million voters only elected 3 MPs. The Ontario Provincial government has announced the formation of a citizen's assembly to assess other voting alternatives. If the assembly recommends a new voting system, the proposal will go a referendum to be held before or in conjunction with the next provincial election in 2007. There are 5 other provinces now looking at reforming the electoral system.

What is Proportional Representation? There are many forms of P.R. At its purest it means that you take all the votes for the country and the seats are given to parties based on their percentage of the vote. So if the Green party got 10% of the vote nationally, they would get 10% of 308 seats or 30-31 seats in Parliament. The people that fill these seats typically come from a list that the party supplies and makes public before the vote. The Green Party would like to see a mixed system which is a combination of our current system, so 1/3 of the Members of Parliament are elected to represent a riding like they are now and the other 2/3s are elected based on the percentage of popular vote.

What are the advantages of P.R.? Under P.R. governments, every vote counts so the government better reflects the votes cast by the people, you tend to have more females elected (a dismal 21% of MPs in Canada are female) and you get a higher voter turnout. Bills that are passed tend to be better thought out because there is input from more than party and policies are less partisan. Currently if a party has a majority, they do not have to and often don't listen to any input from the opposition, even when it is constructive.

Do you not get more unstable governments with P.R.? This is a common scare tactic by those that wish to maintain the status quo. The system does mean that majorities are rare and that coalitions need to be formed. Italy and Israel are often used as examples of what is bad about P.R. however they are only 2 of over 75 countries and don't reflect how P.R. is implemented by most countries. If you look at the other 70 or so countries using P.R. you will find that the average time between elections is similar to those using first past the post systems. So you get better, stable government.

Ok - enough on that topic already - lets move on… Locally...
Raccoons disappearing? We live in a townhouse on a ravine and I noticed last year that there were fewer raccoons than the past and this year even fewer. They are a pain because they are very clever at opening garbage cans and if we are not extra careful with our garbage the little bandits leave us with a mess to clean up. One of our neighbours is concerned that someone is poisoning the raccoons and showed me some fish that she found laid out in the ravine, that seems to have been injected with something (smelled like linseed oil). While this is ONLY conjecture at this point please be careful allowing your pets to run free etc. This is in the Valleywoods and Brookbanks area.

Cleaning up the neighbourhood. We all live here and its up to all of us to keep it looking presentable. Setting the example for your kids is the best thing you can do - i.e. don't litter. Also if you have a few minutes, volunteer your kids, grab a garbage bag and find a place that no one seems to be looking after and pick up the garbage. Not exciting or glamorous but if everyone does a little it makes a big difference.

Internet - Protect your Kids - The best way to protect your kids is to keep the computers out of their rooms and in an open area. Make sure you talk to them about the risks. Any other ideas? Send them to me so I can include them in the next issue.

Identity Theft - How to protect yourself. The first thing is shred your bills/personal information. Another is to get a credit card with a low limit to use online so even if it is stolen your exposure is minimal.

Cancer - In Canada, the odds for getting cancer are almost 40% now and closing in on 50%. About 1/3 of those will die from cancer. This does NOT have to be.
Yes there are things that we can do to prevent cancer (see www.ontario.cancer.ca) but there are other things that must be done including getting the cancer causing pollution out of the air and water and soil where we grow our food. This will help us stay healthy and is the only way to keep health care costs down so we have a viable health care system. The current health care system - private or public is not viable.

Green Party Elections - There is a mandatory election of a Green Party Leader every 2 years at the federal Level - not just a review. In August there will be a policy convention in Ottawa, part of which includes the election of the Green Party Leader. I hope that many of you will join the party and vote by mail or in person. If there is any policy you want changed or added we need your input there as well.

Energy - Provincially there is a big discussion on our future in terms of power. It looks like the government has chosen to go nuclear. Nuclear does not give off green house gases but we are left with toxic waste and the uranium mines are also toxic. In addition while the cost of operating a nuclear plant is not too high (relatively), it becomes very expensive once you include actual costs and decommissioning of the plants when they are no longer useful (25 to 35 years). At present we are paying off $20 billion dollars of debt which resulted from cost over runs when building nuclear plants. We are better offer focusing on conservation and renewable energy.

Harper - I was disappointed with the appointments of a non-elected person and Emerson to cabinet. I am glad Harper went to Afghanistan but am not convinced that is the best use of our resources especially when in another department we are cutting aid to Afghanistan. It looks good on the surface but makes no sense. To pay for the GST he has already stopped an income tax cut that was coming and is cutting other programs including 40% cuts to climate change programs the worst of which is that he is cutting research in this area. Ontario is still bleeding manufacturing jobs and I have seen no plan (from any level of government) to resolve this.

Currently Being Discussed on the Green Party List Serve - Energy, Climate Change, the Middle East - various topics, Kyoto, the Seal hunt, US Canada Relations - those interested I suggest you create a g-mail account and join. E-mail me for more details.

I am out of room - I wanted to make this only one page long (front and back) and I know I have exceeded that so I'll stop here. If you do not want this delivered to your door please call me at 416-805-9296 or e-mail me at wayne@bswi.com and I will remove you from the delivery list for the next 12 months or until the next election. If you prefer to receive this by email please let me know that as well. Let me know what topics you want covered in the next edition. If you have friends or family that would like to see this in another language, let me know and I will see what I can do to accommodate. Your thoughts, ideas and support are vital to our future.

Please feel free to circulate this on to others. Wishing you and your family all the best!