It is difficult to believe the range of events we have experienced in one month. We went from another hopeful COP meeting trying to wrangle the world’s carbon commitments to realistic targets, right into severe rainfall events in Canada, especially in BC and the East Coast.
The Green Party of Canada strives to provide a voice for the environment in our politics, and it is obvious that it is needed more than ever. Fortunately for us, that voice just got stronger this week with the appointment of our new Interim Leader, Dr. Amita Kuttner.
As I write this, the GPC is about to start their VGM, a new model of meeting for this party during Covid. There is a spirit of renewal that I see with a new council and greater interest at the grassroots level, the EDAs.
Renewal is also a part of this newsletter as there is information on our upcoming AGM in January. Your EDA executive invites you to be a fresh voice on our council as we work together on local Green events and have fun doing it.
We hope that you enjoy our newsletter and as always, don’t be shy to let us know what you think about it.
Dan Kells, Interim CEO
AGM in January
We have now scheduled our upcoming AGM to be held on January 22 at 2 pm and it will be a virtual session. Please mark this date on your calendar and come and join your executive and fellow members for our event. The AGM is our opportunity to deal with the business of our EDA but also to renew friendships within the membership. Invite a friend to join you for this occasion and to meet our group.
Speaking of opportunities, the AGM is when we collectively vote on the renewal of the executive. Your SGI EDA is fortunate enough to be one of the best federal Green organizations in Canada and our executive members help to make it effective and fun.
We are seeking interested people to run for positions on our council, including members at large plus the position of Financial Agent, which is presently held by Sharon Forrester. Please contact her if you would like to learn more. If you have any questions concerning that position or any other questions, email Dan Kells. Please note that nominations for executive roles must be received by December 8th. Feel free to put your own name forward, or nominate others (with their permission) for any position on the executive. Please send details to Karen Lindsay.
You must be a member at least 30 days prior (= December 23) to our AGM in order to vote and participate in the meeting, however non-members may attend but not participate or vote.
If you have not previously been a member of the Green Party of Canada, you can read more about membership here.
Please note that donating funds does not guarantee party membership as political parties can’t automatically enroll you with a donation – you must agree to become a member. There are two ways to check your membership or become a member:
- Log into the GPC website here and then click on My profile.
- Call 1-866-868-3447, extension 202 for Donations and Membership to connect with the GPC office in Ottawa.
Invitations to register for this Zoom event will be sent out closer to the actual AGM date. In the meantime, I wish you well and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year.
Notes from Elizabeth
This has been my first week back in Parliament since the June recess. But it is much more striking that this was my first time back in Ottawa to physically participate in Parliament for more than a year. I last took a plane from Ontario back to British Columbia just before Thanksgiving 2020.
I return to sit with my new seatmate, Mike Morrice of Kitchener Waterloo. I am so grateful he was elected. But I am equally saddened that Paul Manly is not here with me, and that Jenica Atwin is here, but as a Liberal.
It is hard to shake off the sense of sadness. But we have to keep fighting.
With the extraordinary tragedies wrought by the climate emergency hitting our home province, Greens are needed in parliament. Just this Wednesday, I asked the Speaker for an Emergency Debate on the Climate Crisis and what must be done Globally, nationally and with a sharp focus on BC. The Speaker granted my request and we debated from 6:30 pm until midnight. It was a more respectful debate than any we have had before on climate. Even Conservatives agreed the disastrous “atmospheric river” and its impacts were due to the climate crisis. We must push our government from laggard to leader on global climate emergency. Well before COP27, we must commit to aggressively move off fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, some really good news. As Greens, we have a new interim leader! Thanks to Amita Kuttner, we can turn the page on a very challenging time in the life of our party.
I ask all members in Saanich-Gulf Islands to do all you can to support Amita. I really appreciate that they are stepping up now- putting themselves out of the running for permanent leader by taking on the thankless task of rebuilding. I am confident we can and will rebuild!
Thank you all so very much for your amazing support and energy for a better world. I feel that both COP26 and the appointment of Amita are turning points. Everything starts getting better from here! Here is the link to my COP26 debrief this week, in case you missed it.
BC Greens Voices of Saanich and the Islands
Our BC Greens cousins from Saanich North and the Islands are back up and running with their speakers’ series, “Voices of Saanich and the Islands”. Coming up soon is a virtual session with Dr David Bird, who will discuss “Making the Canada Jay our National Bird”. All BC Greens events including links to register can be found here.
November Gardening Reflections
If you are like us, we need a major break from the garden and the rainy weather we have been having for what seems like months already is just the incentive we need to put our feet up, keep the fire going in the woodstove and read a few good books. While there are a few things we still want to do, most of the garden is now nicely protected under cloches. We will be harvesting the odd cauliflower and broccoli that are soon to be ready now along with chard, beets, green onions, cilantro, parsley, and, of course, kale. Although we got our Brussels sprouts planted at our usual time, we think the hot weather set them back so we are not sure whether or not we will get any – certainly not for Christmas. And, as we write this on 15 November, we still have our kiwi and Granny Smith apples to harvest. It has been so warm that we have simply left them on the vine/tree, but they will have to come in soon once the cold weather reaches us.
There were so many highlights this year that it would be hard to name them all, but the most outstanding one was our first pomegranate! Nancy makes a to-die-for salad of pomegranate, grapefruit and avocado – we grow all three and now just have to hope for fruit from out 2-year-old avocado and to get the timing worked out because our grapefruits are still unripe even though they are especially huge this year. It will be a trifecta to be able to eat this subtropical salad all grown from our own garden.
This year we are hoping to begin a long, slow process of turning much of our lawn into a meadow. We are going to start slow by spreading a tarp over part of our nut orchard to kill the grass (okay, grass is a bit of an overstatement – more like buttercup and horsetail) in order to be able to seed it to a variety of wildflowers and perennials in 2023. If we have a modicum of success, we will expand the meadow, if not we may be left with a field of invasive weeds. We would be happy to hear any advice from those of you who have tried to wean yourself off lawn. Similarly, we have delayed cleaning up the many flower beds around the property in order to maintain a source of seeds for our platoon of hungry birds on the property. We have taken out the plants that turn to mush, but will leave many of the rest until the spring. This makes it impossible to mulch now, but perhaps the protective cover of the plants remaining in situ will be of more benefit and we can then mulch when we clean things up in the spring. Again, we welcome your feedback on this approach or alternative ones as well.
Mid November is also when we turn our attention to our next year seed order. It is hard to believe that planting begins in only 7 weeks, so it is essential to make sure we have those early seeds. This year (oops, next year) we will try seeding parthenocarpic tomatoes in early January along with the onions, kale, celery and lettuce. Even though our Siletz tomatoes were not the best flavour (and we will not plant them later in the year), it would be nice to get tomatoes of any ilk in May so we thought it would be worthwhile experimenting.
To close, we just heard about neighbourhood seed exchange libraries springing up like the little book and puzzle exchange libraries that have become relatively common. What a great idea and one that if we have enough time this winter we might have a go at building. It would be a good winter project.
As the days grow shorter and shorter, we send you our sunshine for a healthy winter and a joyous solstice. We wish you a life rather than growing old, you grow bold by expanding your gardening boundaries and reaping the happiness and satisfaction you can find in a little plot of tenderly cared-for soil. Happy Gardening.
Nancy& Gary Searing
Honeysuckle Cottage
Green knitting
The Green Knitters are back in action producing touques, fingerless gloves, headbands and mug warmers. These photos show some examples of current knitwear, but not all. Proceeds from sales support both Saanich-Gulf Islands Greens as well as Saanich North and the Islands Greens (provincially), and ultimately their election campaigns.
There will be a Pop-Up Green Store on Sunday, November 28 from 1-3 pm, and Sunday, December 12 from 1-3 pm at 9655 Ardmore Drive. Besides green knitting there will be beautiful bamboo t-shirts, To-Go Mugs, and bumper stickers available. Please park on Ardmore and walk up the driveway. The sale is held on the covered front porch. Please be double vaccinated and wear a mask. Hand sanitizer will be available. For further details contact Nancy.
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