As of this morning, I am officially on leave and able to concentrate my efforts 100% to the campaign. There is a great deal of work to be done, and we need every Green Party supporter reading this blog to help out with whatever time you have available. The good news is that you don’t even need to live in the riding to help, so long as you have a phone and a computer! Just contact us through www.newmarketauroragreens.ca and we’ll be happy to make you part of the team.
A great deal has happened in the first week of the campaign. Canadians have spoken out about their outrage when Elizabeth May was not to be in the televised debates, and now she will. The Green Party sees this as a good omen, not only because we will have our leader in the debates for the first time, laying to rest once and for all the tired old single issue label many opponents still use, but for two much more important reasons.
First, Elizabeth will bring a refreshing change of atmosphere to these debates, as she speaks from the heart to Canadians, generally unscripted as was her speech to kick off the campaign. She will speak to the issues and our policies, rather than being caught up in attacking opponents.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, the events of last week proved the power of the electorate in making demands in their own interest. People rose up, even many who are not Green Party supporters, and demanded that Elizabeth May be allowed to give voice to the hundreds of thousands of Green Party voters who have been un-represented in Parliament for so long. They spoke loud and clear that they wanted to hear what the Green leader had to say. And it worked. The proof that people can change the direction of the establishment front and centre last week, and this should speak volumes to the 40% of our population that does not vote.
Here in Newmarket-Aurora things are shaping up for the local campaign. We have several all candidates debates lined up, and I’m certain that more are being organized, though we await the details.
- Cardinal Carter High School – September 30 or October 3 (to be determined)
- Aurora Chamber of Commerce – October 7 at Aurora Theatre (tentative)
- Newmarket Chamber of Commerce – October 8 at Newmarket Theatre
Stay tuned to the calendar at www.newmarketauroragreens.ca for details.
Meanwhile, in the national campaigns, we’ve had another $600,000,000 promised by the Conservatives to lower the excise tax on diesel and jet fuel. Un-huh. So, what was you saying about Climate Change being a concern, Mr Harper? Certainly high fuel prices are a concern for the transportation industry, but putting on the band-aid solution of lowering this tax so that the industry can have a short lived respite from high prices is NOT the correct solution. We need policies which will encourage efficiency in transportation, such as a building up of rail infrastructure and policies which encourage small businesses, creating local jobs bringing local goods and services to local markets. The Conservatives see things such as this to be strong leadership. I see it as selling our future and failing to make our economy more resilient to future, inevitable increases in energy costs.
To be fair, the Conservatives did not have a lock this week on bad policy announcements. The NDP promises to set up a government commission to do what again? Oh yes, to watch fuel prices go up. That’ll work.
