greenpolitics.ca

A trip to a ferry terminal turned into a reminder of the fragility of democratic rights and the insidious way that both Liberal and Conservative governments have secretly adopted the self-serving corporate agenda of North American integration. Is the repressive, anti-democratic Security and Prosperity Partnership the beginning of The Age of Razor Wire? Wake up, froggies! The water is beginning to boil!

Book Review If you’re wondering why all recent prime ministers start behaving like autocrats once in office, it’s because Canada and the UK have moved to a Court system of government, explains University of Moncton public administration professor Donald Savoie. Not light reading, but an invaluable book if you want to understand Canadian federal politics.

A powerful coalition of environmental groups, unions, scientists, business people and citizens is challenging Stephen Harper to invest up to $41 billion in green energy funding and infrastructure energy efficiency updates in this month’s budget. But behind the scenes, Stephen Harper may be planning to gut Canada’s Environmental Protection Act.

In this concluding article, John Ryan explains why there is enough common ground for the federal Liberal, NDP and Green parties to form a mutually-acceptable and visionary political partnership that can defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, form a coalition government, and lead Canada towards a progressive and independent future.

Long-time political observer John Ryan believes that a strategic political agreement between the Liberals, NDP, and Greens will enable them to win the next Canadian federal election and form a coalition government. Only then would the majority of Canadians have a government that would reflect their views, values, and interests, he explains.

Canadians have voted in this election not to give the Conservative Party an overall majority, which means that two-thirds of the voting public do not want Stephen Harper to continue as prime minister. I have sent this letter to the Governor General requesting her not to agree to another minority government. Feel free to copy and circulate it. You send one, too — it’s time for action!

For the opposition parties to form a coalition government, a formal letter stating their intent and ability to do so must sent to the Governor General as soon as the election results are announced. The leaders of the four opposition parties must immediately begin negotiations to thrash out a working agreement for the next parliament. To delay would be to open the door for a second and perhaps even more repressive Stephen Harper minority régime that 64% of Canadians do not want.

It’s time for the four Canadian opposition parties to come together in a coalition to stop the awful prospect of yet another mandate for what could soon prove to be the meanest, most secretive, most militaristic, and most repressive ultra-right government in Canadian history.

As polls show public support for the Green Party of Canada rising steadily to between 10% and 12% nationally and up to 15% here in BC, the tension between possible electoral success and the party’s set of basic Green political values becomes even more apparent. The problem is that most party members have no knowledge or understanding of core Green values.

Despite the intent to create a more democratic political process, many Green parties from the start adopted the same ‘top-down’ hierarchical structure as mainstream political parties. Their leadership progressively sealed themselves off from the party’s grass roots, and in many cases membership and fundraising declined precipitously. This analysis looks at why.