Benmergui, Carr, de Jong & Leadership motions

Steve, if my memory serves me, there were no less than 5 council motions being discussed waaay back then. That is why it was all referred to the Campaign Committee if you recall. Because one of them contained a review mechanism, it does not follow that it was the golden one. When the special meeting discussed in FEBRUARY proved to be a non-starter, then the decision was made to refer it all to the campaign committee. With a month between decisions, and delays at each step...Why don't you go dig up the actual deadline for submitting motions to the BGM, and then you can look at the council meeting dates, and judge for yourself whether the council motion was rushed or not?

I will repeat, instead of putting words into the mouths of Frank and Ralph, why not simply ask them? You are hypothesising about stuff that is simply beyond knowing. That is why I responded to John above, because he was making assumptions about the thinking and intentions of people, and it was apparently without any direct knowledge of their thoughts and intentions. The timelines were entirely pertinent. I did speak cirectly with Frank and Ralph at an event organised by Chris Tindall in Toronto this spring. I will not repeat the entire conversations, because they were priveledged. But when two other people joined us, (at which point I guess the conversation became open), both Frank and Ben lobbied for an actual contest in the immediate aftermath of the next election, while I argued that the Constitution is not a plaything of council. Now that is fact, not supposition. I will not pretend to speak for either of them here. I would not presume to do so. What they think now is a big fat question mark.

There is a ton of noise, on these open blogs, but little of real factual basis that lends to an understanding of what was, and is actually happening in the GPC. The real moves are being made by queitly lobbying one on one, and all of you are left in ignorance of why, and how the fate of the Party is being decided.

I detest it all, it is politics, but all those years ago when I joined the GPC, I was impressed most by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Greens liked things out in the open, where the real issues could be discussed and understood widely. I have tried to open up the discussion here and elsewhere, and inform people of what is at stake, and why. Some people appreciate it, some people do not. Some people call me a liar, while others add another little piece to the puzzle they are trying to construct about what is actually happening. Nobody has the answers, because all the channels of communications are closed loops. Hearsay rules, because we allow it to, and contribute to it.

  I am sure you will all nitpick on this response, and question what the placement of a comma means. Feel free, but I can say with certainty that nobody out there has a complete picture. Nobody knows what is happening in any camps minds, and since politics is fluid, and interactive, what somebody did and said 6 months ago may or may not be relevant today. There have been betrayals, and lies. Secretive committees have made fundamental decisions, without the knowledge, or direction of council, let alone the membership. Manipulating the timing has been essential to some peoples plans. This is how we are governed today. It stinks. It needs changing.