Yesterday was International Day of UN Peacekeepers. It started me thinking about our once proud tradition for peacekeeping through UN initiatives and how little we hear about peacekeeping today. Canada has fallen from being the single largest contributor of UN Peacekeepers, a position it often held, to 58th, just behind Uganda and barely ahead of Zimbabwe. Canadian peacekeeping participation consists of 99 policemen, 37 military experts and 24 soldiers. The Green Party will re-establish Canada among the global leaders in peace building, peacekeeping and international diplomacy. Green Party MPs will push forward the re-alignment of our defence spending to increase our capacity and speed in delivering disaster assistance (through DART) and our contributions to UN Peacekeeping forces and missions and decrease our contributions to the NATO war effort. Once more we can have pride in our international reputation as peacekeepers.
Accountability and Ethical Conduct
For the past two weeks one of the hottest topics in the political scene has been that of MPs expenses and the lack of transparency surrounding them. If elected I will publicly vow to have my expenses open to the public. This is taxpayers’ money and the taxpayers deserve to know how it is spent. The Green Party believes in an open, honest government. We will institute a code of conduct and an independent complaints process to ensure that tax dollars are not used for partisan purposes ie pre-election advertising. We will strengthen the mandates of Independent Officers of Parliament, including the Auditor General and the Information Commissioner and we will replace the current Ethics Commissioner, who reports privately to the Prime Minister, with an independent Ethics Commission reporting to Parliament. These are just a few of the changes the Green Party will push forward in Parliament. More details can be seen in our Vision Green policy published online at the Green Party of Canada website.
Soldier Killed
Our deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends of Private Kevin Thomas McKay, killed in action, by an IED in Afghanistan. We will be at the Highway of Heroes to honour your repatriation.
Worker’s Day of Mourning
Today we remember all those workers killed or injured on the job. We must remain vigilant and continue to hold the workplace accountable for the health and safety of their workers.
A New System is Needed
Canadians have become cynical about politicians and government. Scandals and broken promises are causing Canadians to lose trust. People are disillusioned with MPs allegiance to parties instead of constituents, government inefficiency and wasteful spending. On top of this we have an outdated voting system where the popular vote is not translated into seats. Many Canadians are recognizing the need to change our system into a fair voting system that ensures parties get a share of seats in parliament that is equal to their share of the popular vote. We in the Green Party believe that democracy must be decided by citizens, not politicians. We have ideas to improve the system, but we want to hear yours.
Next week is Earth Week
Earth Hour demonstrates just how easy it is for people all around the world to reduce their energy consumption. Earth week is coming (April 18th to 25th) and I hope everyone is still challenging themselves to change a habit and help the earth. Start using those reusable mugs we all have hidden away on the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard. Many local coffee shops will give a reduced price when you use your non- disposable cup. Going out for dinner? Take along a glass bowl (with a lid) to bring the leftovers home, don’t let the restaurant give you styrofoam. Take your reusable grocery bags shopping with you, keep them in the car so you won’t forget. Make an extra effort. Small changes are what we can do everyday. But don’t stop there. Feeling a little more radical? I’ve started leaving the overpackaging at the store. After an item is paid for, just leave behind the packaging. Eventually, with encouragement from all of us, and complaints from the retailers, the manufacturers will stop the overpackaging. This is the beginning of “extended producer responsibility”, a plan that requires the manufacturer be responsible for an item for its entire lifecycle and a big step toward zero-waste. It doesn’t hurt to be responsible for our own small piece of the planet.
We hope everyone will participate in some way in making Earth Week (also National Pitch-In Week) a huge success.
EARTH HOUR CELEBRATION FUNDRAISER – MARCH 27TH 6-9PM!
EARTH HOUR FUNDRAISER
SATURDAY MARCH 27TH 2010!
6:00PM – 9:00PM!
KARMA LOUNGE
394 SIMCOE ST SOUTH - OSHAWA, ON.
COME JOIN THE GREEN PARTY OF OSHAWA AND HELP CELEBRATE EARTH HOUR. SHUT YOUR LIGHTS OFF AT HOME AND JOIN US AT KARMA LOUNGE BY CANDLELIGHT. TICKETS ARE $25 per person AND INCLUDE TWO DRINK TICKETS FOR A GLASS OF WINE OR BEER, CHEESE TRAYS AND A SWEET TABLE.
- support your local economy, all wine, beer, and appetizers will be from local producers.
- meet Gail Bates your Green Party candidate and find out more about the what the Green Party can do for you.
- hear a message for Oshawa from the leader of the Green Party of Canada – Elizabeth May.
- most of all join liked minded neighbours in doing your small part to help celebrate this event.
Budget 2010
Watch Elizabeth May’s video commentary
I can remember budget days in lock-ups when there was good news to be found. Even in a bad budget, there would be a new environmental programme or two.In a good budget, like Mulroney’s in 1990 or Martin’s in 2005, you could get dizzy trying to keep track of all the great initiatives.
You can’t say this for Prime Minister Harper. His budgets will not lead to dizziness or exhilaration. Other health effects may ensue. Depression and nausea come to mind.
For example, the 2010 budget removes all energy projects from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and places environmental reviews in the hands of the National Energy Board and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (if nuclear).
No doubt the government will say this changes nothing. The heading for this is “modernizing the regulatory system.” The problem is that the CEAA was designed to enhance public participation. CEAA has clear processes and access for interveners and the public. The process is informal and accessible. In contrast, the National Energy Board is quasi-judicial. Few interveners will appear without lawyers. It has no history for public participation, nor does it have a strong understanding of the scope of environmental review. The CNSC is also more formal, and has suffered the slap-down in the firing of Linda Keen. How likely is it that this board can provide environmental assessment? This change is a significant disadvantage to environmental and aboriginal groups. Ironically, the stated reason (to save time) will not be met. CEAA worked very efficiently. It is more likely and the real purpose to have projects rubber stamped.
As for Green Energy, the very successful ecoEnergy Technology Initiative will not be continued. It died in mid-2009 as it was over-subscribed in 2008. There are accelerated capital cost allowance measures for renewable energy, but the only new programme was $100 million over four years for the “Next Generation Renewable Power Initiative.” This is designed only for the forest sector, likely for biomass or cellulose ethanol
The budget also hikes payroll taxes. By 2015, there will be an additional $29 billion collected from higher EI premiums. This job killing tax could actually threaten Canada’s economic recovery. And while workers see their pay cheque shrink and small business has to postpone new hires, corporate tax rates will continue to be cut.
The deficit is supposed to be cut back to nearly nothing by 2015. These figures do tend to stretch credulity. Flaherty gets to near balanced books in five years by relying on increasing revenues from a source the government wants to tax less. Corporate tax revenues are set to go up by 40% over 5 years, even as the rate at which corporations are taxed will go down. Other deficit fighting measures include the payroll tax hikes, and cuts to military spending increases ($2.5 billion), to CIDA’s future funding of $4.5, and from Stockwell Day’s cuts to government “administration” – $6.8 billion.
If you were looking for news on pension reform, there is nothing here. A consultation will begin in March. Interestingly, there was also nothing about change to political party financing.
There were a few good measures: citizen oversight of the RCMP through a new board (few details), $30 million over two years to implement an educational agreement with First Nations for K-12, $8 million/year for the Great Lakes (the proverbial drop in a very large toxic bucket) and reducing the tax impact for low-income single parent families of the child tax credit.
Overall, this is a government with no concern for the climate crisis, no plan to avoid runaway global warming, even commenting favourably about the ice-free Arctic and the need to monitor shipping, and no real plan to create jobs.
Give them credit for consistency. In the Conservatives’ never ending attempt to eliminate the colour red from the primary colours palette, this budget blending blue and green arrows and leaves, manages to portray the Canadian flag in blue and white on the back cover. First the national anthem, next the flag. They really don’t like our traditions very much.
Dear Green Party supporter,
In honour of International Women’s Day earlier this week, the Green Party of Canada is celebrating the achievements of our women leaders and candidates.
Doctors and plumbers, biologists and small business owners, artists and members of the armed forces – our female candidates come from diverse backgrounds. But they are all united in their commitment to green values and their efforts to bring about positive change.
Women currently constitute 30% of our nominated candidates, but with 1/3 of our nominations still open we are working hard to increase that number to our official goal of 50%. At our last convention we founded a Women’s Council to strategize and engage more female candidates in politics.
Currently only 22% of our Members of Parliament are women yet more than half of our population is female. It is an uphill battle to achieve equal representation in the House but we must not relent. Women’s voices are desperately needed in Parliament.
Please help us nominate, train, and support more women candidates by making a donation now. Your gift of $50 will go a long way to reaching our goal of 50% female candidates.
With your assistance, we can champion the equality of all women around the world.
David Moore-Rabinovitch and Ticona Moore are no longer associated with the EDA.
Please take this as notice to any of our friends and associates and the general public. David Moore-Rabinovitch and his wife Ticona Moore are not associated with the Oshawa Federal Green Party Executive Committee. Any actions that they may take are purely of their own will and in no way represent the policies and beliefs of the Oshawa Federal Green Party Association. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at our official email oshawagreens@gmail.com or at our official phone number 289 240-2470 and we will gladly address any issues that this may have caused.
