Whitehorse

While my last blog (and sorry for being so blog-delinquent this summer!) dealt with the need for voter turn out for the Green internal democracy, most of my touring summer talks have been on the theme of Canadian democracy.

(By the way, the GPC Council elections have concluded. Check out the results... You'll need to login)

Canadian voters are clearly desperate for a revival of real democracy. Everywhere I go, halls are packed to hear the Green message of how we can take back democracy – how we can re-instill respect and cooperation into politics. Whether in Winnipeg, or Owen Sound, or in Whitehorse, the public response is amazing.

This last weekend, touring the Yukon to support our candidate John Streicker, I had one of the most moving responses yet. The day after over 150 people crowded into the fire hall (with chairs for 100), people in Whitehorse were continuing to discuss the themes from my talk. I heard from one person that she had come to get my book after hearing people talking about it at the swimming pool. Others were sharing their observations about democracy at a meet and greet breakfast at a local bakery. One woman at the fundraising dinner the next night told me that she had more-or-less dragged her twenty-something daughter to the talk. She told me that her daughter had changed her whole attitude to politics.

This is hard to write without making it sound like it is about me. It is decidedly NOT about me. It is about a public appetite for democracy. It is about citizens being tired of being treated like consumers of a junk food called “politics” when they could be growing their own power as engaged citizens.

One of our Green volunteers and her 14 year old shared the most inspiring reflection. After my talk, Rowen told her mom Catherine, “I want to get a fake ID so I can vote.”

Wouldn’t it be great if young people across Canada could be so excited about democracy that they would be that eager to vote?

That is the great challenge. We need to get all young people -- and all of us older people – engaged, committed and excited about taking democracy back. There has to be a way. The first step is to believe it is possible.