I write this from the third leg of our national
tour. I left Saanich Gulf Islands by BC
Ferry for the mainland, connecting by bus to Vancouver Airport. I am now on Air Canada. No
bubble for me. If the fact that every encounter – ferry ticket
vendors, ferry cafeteria workers, ferry passengers, bus driver,
bus passengers, Air Canada staff and passengers -- involved a wish
for me to be in the debates, get elected and/or “kick ass” mean
anything, it suggests that people remain quite engaged and angry
about the whole debate debacle
EKOS poll today said the same.
Canadians want Greens in the debate by a two to one margin. I have one or two more irons in the fire, but
they fall into the “Hail Mary pass” category.
Today we will launch our green book -- our
2011 election platform. It will include a
three year costed programme that reduces the deficit faster than
the Conservatives, while providing more support for families than
the Liberals or the Conservatives, more support for youth and low
income Canadians than the NDP. And we call
for real action to address the climate crisis.
The launch in Toronto will, we hope, engage
media interest. I have to admit to being worried.
We held our national convention in August in Toronto,
across the street from the CBC, a few blocks from the Globe and
Mail. None of them attended.
In 2008, our press conference in Toronto
announcing our green technology initiatives achieved great media
attendance, but coverage centred on an allegation surfacing on
some blog that I had been at a pro-Hezbollah rally. Of course, it
was a peace rally in the summer of 2006, and my speech equally
condemned Israeli bombardment of Lebanon and Hezbollah assaults on
Israel. At that same press conference, one
of the journalists present alleged I had said “Canadians are
stupid.” (TVO “The Agenda” was filmed
before a live studio audience. We were on
a panel. The microphone only caught some
of what I said, and nothing of what others said in one brief
exchange…. Of course, proof that I said nothing of the sort was
the positive audience reaction. They heard
everything; the TV audience didn’t.). No
doubt, someone will bring up these invented incidents in the
election campaign.
Somehow the trivial, the scandalous, the
salacious, the irrelevant make it to the top of the pop charts in
the coverage of election campaigns, while the critical and urgent
are deemed “non-issues.”
Apparently, the Green Party should be worried
that climate change is not “flavour of the month” anymore. Nearly every media interview gets around to the
question eventually. Actually, we are worried. We
are worried that the single biggest threat to the survival of
human civilization is not being addressed. It
has been deemed a “non-issue” by the national media and the other
parties. Their only remnant interest in
the matter is how it might impact our political fortunes. Compared to the increasing concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the rapidly closing window
of opportunity to avoid runaway global warming, our political
fortunes are of no greater consequence than those of any other
party -- or of the
average gnat. What matters is that someone
raise the issue and ask the obvious question--- how can the other
parties ignore the climate threat?
How blind are the expedient; how empty the
rhetoric; how meaningless the predictable pageant.
An election should not descend to farce or charade. It is every citizen’s opportunity to make a
difference. To stand up, loudly and
clearly, and speak truth to power, to tell the media and the other
parties what are the issues that really matter.
They may be able to keep my voice out of the
debates, but they cannot stop you from using your voice, your
power, your vote.