Not Since Diefenbaker (Day 8)

Last night my leader’s cross-country train tour schedule was finalized. I will be going from Vancouver beginning Sunday, September 21 all the way to Nova Scotia by rail. There are a couple reasons why I want to take this train tour and do whistle-stop rallies in communities across Canada. Aside from the obvious benefit in reducing carbon emissions of a leader’s tour, I believe a train tour sends a few important messages about the Green Party.

The Green Party is a truly national party. We do not favour regionalism, and we are not a splinter party supporting one region of Canada over another. We have strong ridings in every province and every region. Our agenda moving ahead embraces Canadian unity and would help to give greater balance to the Canadian economy, reducing the distortion of the Canadian market caused by the boom in the oil sands. When John A. Macdonald envisioned Canada, he saw rail tracks going from coast to coast to coast, connecting region to region to create a strong nation. Canada is not the same place it was upon Confederation, but it has equal potential. With a national economic strategy and a national vision for equality, health and sustainability, we could get Canada back on track (pardon the pun). Part of this vision would include rebuilding our rail system.

We have been steadily moving away from the energy-efficient modes of transportation, favouring the commercial airlines’ market. But with a national transportation strategy (something Canada does not have) we could move forward with green technologies and high-speed efficient trains. The potential for Canadian business is huge to begin production of modern rail cars and engines. Companies like Bombardier would benefit under Green government by manufacturing and building these rail cars for a home market and not just for export. In my home riding the Trenton Works plant could be put back to work building rail cars for freight -- putting Canada back on the market as a source of innovation and modernity.

I will of course have to spend much of the campaign in my own riding in Central Nova to ensure that I have a fair chance of unseating Defense Minster Peter MacKay. Many people wonder why I choose to do a cross-country train tour, instead of using my time “effectively” by flying from city to city. The current style of leaders’ tour is not aligned with Green values or the spirit of the Green Party’s campaigns. We do not campaign the way the other parties campaign. We recognize that being creative and innovative is inherently a bonus to our campaign.

The added attractiveness of a cross-country train tour is that it captures the imagination. Not since Diefenbaker has a federal leader campaigned by train from coast to coast, and the symbolism of speeding along the countryside and speaking to crowds from a rail station platform is too good to pass up. It reinforces the Greens’ positive campaign message, that we want to do politics differently, that we are looking to the future and acting responsibly. I hope to give a boost to all ridings across the country where Greens are running by speaking the truth and enforcing the Green Party message in my leader’s tour. In eight provinces, the Green train will pass through, and I hope it will bring media attention with it.

Stephen Harper has made “national unity” one of his buzz phrases in this election, but I wonder what his idea of a nation really is. With his various actions to give more economic independence to the provinces, leaving the resource-depleted provinces to fend for themselves, and his discussions with George Bush to push Canada into the Security-Prosperity Partnership without revealing what the details of this plan would entail, I wonder whether he has any of the Canadian spirit John A. Macdonald captured when he talked about a nation from sea to shining sea. I wonder whether Stephen Harper can capture Canadians’ imaginations, or whether he will get on by issuing threats about economic insecurity and risk-taking in dangerous times.

I spoke to a number of Canadians who called into Rex Murphy’s Cross-country Checkup this afternoon, and I received no calls about “economic insecurity”, nor did I hear fear in the voices of the callers. Canadians are not a people who have been easily manipulated before, but we, as voters, are not accustomed to the U.S. manipulation tactics Harper has been employing in his campaign. I hope that the media, Stephane Dion, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe and other influential Canadians will help me in exposing the Conservative campaign for what it is: an exercise in marketing over substance, manipulating emotions toward fear. Meanwhile, the Green Party will be campaigning to get Canada back on track, and I will be working hard to inspire Canadians to hope enough for the future that they can feel good about politics. This isn’t a game, this is democracy and this is our future.