Good Sunday Morning!
Throughout the weeks of the leadership contest we hope that you enjoy these weekly insights provided by our six fantastic contestants, most of whom will contribute each week. We are also including those articles in French when provided by the contestants. The order of appearance is randomized weekly. Thank you for joining us, and please enjoy—
Leadership campaign update: Federal Council has decided to have one round of voting instead of two, concluding as planned on November 19, 2022. This will allow all 6 contestants to run their campaigns until the voting period ends in November.
The most important point is that to vote in November, you must be a Green Party member in good standing by October 19, 2022. Please check the status of your membership or become a member and help spread the word. Young Greens under 30 years of age are very welcome, and can join here. You can receive help with membership questions by calling 1-866-868-3447.
Here are this week’s messages from the six candidates, in reverse alphabetical order by first name. (Le texte français suit le texte anglais).
Simon Gnocchini-Messier
Good Sunday Morning!
I am pleased to share with you my plan for the first 180 days as Leader of the Green Party of Canada. You can read the full text here.
Why a 180-day plan? Well, first, it is a contest requirement for all the leadership candidates. So far, my fellow candidates Chad Walcott and Anna Keenan have completed their joint plan, and I look forward to reading the plans of Jonathan Pedneault, Elizabeth May and Sarah Gabrielle Baron. Second, the members need to see how down-to-earth and organized the leadership candidates are in their approaches to putting the Green Party of Canada back on track.
I do not believe in sprinkling fairy dust in the members’ eyes or promising to raise the party like a phoenix from the ashes, especially not in the first six months. Rather, I believe that this initial period should be devoted to revitalizing the Electoral District Associations and reaching a consensus on how the various bodies of the party should interact and communicate with each other. So, you won’t see a dog’s breakfast of vacuous promises in this plan, but simply some very concrete common-sense, yet still difficult, steps that any GPC leader will have to take.
The plan reflects my vision of the party: the GPC must be the political voice of Canada’s environmental movement and a beacon for social justice. Hence, our outreach and dialogue with all Canadians must be ongoing and robust and must address not only the Climate Emergency but also the many inequities that the current centralization of wealth and power is causing. Only a highly cohesive political party with a broad grassroots base will attract the attention of Canadians.
Specifically, my plan has three objectives:
1. rebuild the EDAs;
2. revitalize the Federal Council and network of party volunteers; and
3. redefine the Relationship between the Caucus and the Party.
I will pursue the three objectives in parallel, with the very specific timelines in the plan. In the first six months, I intend to visit the sixty most active EDAs in the country and spend considerable time in discussion with the Federal Council, GPC volunteers, staff, and Caucus members. In doing so, I hope to attain the following outcomes:
1. a better understanding of the party’s governance structure by EDA members, clearer lines of communication, ongoing respectful dialogue with EDAs to align national efforts to address the concerns of ordinary citizens, and the establishment of ambitious EDA-owned and youth-focused strategies to increase GPC membership;
2. consensus among federal counsellors and volunteers at the national level on how best to increase cohesion and sense of purpose within the GPC while respecting diversity of opinion; and
3. a cohesive, collaborative relationship between the Leader and the Caucus, which would avoid conflict and ensure the principle that members determine policy.
I would highly appreciate your comments on this plan and the plans of my fellow leadership contests. Just send me a line at info@simongmessier.ca.
Thank you, Merci, Meegwech, HÍ SW KE
Simon Gnocchini-Messier
Sarah Gabrielle Baron
Dear SGI Greens,
Happy Thanksgiving! There is so much to be thankful for. We’re still here, we still have each other, and our beautiful lakes, rivers, oceans, skies and ecosystems.
One thing we’re losing, way too fast, is old growth forests. Of the fifty-three policy motions of 2020, the one we voted top at more than 90% ‘green-lit’ approval was G21-P049, “Promote the Ecological Health of Canada’s Forests”. Hurrah! But, what next?
How can Greens cross-country help land defender activists and Indigenous groups to protect BC’s virgin ecosystems like Fairy Creek, or the Yintah homelands of the Wet’suwet’en, the Wolastoq nation on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, groups suing to stop the Baie du Nord project in Quebec, or the Mushkegowuk nation and other land defenders on the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario? We wear the Green Party hat, but many of us are also deeply engaged with these non-profit, non-partisan activist efforts.
One way to activate all our Green knowledge and power, is for the leaders to do what members told us to do: G21-D003 says we must provide “one page policy briefs to empower EDA’s”, to get our messaging simple, consistent and powerful.
I’ve listened to members and made this part of my platform under the section “inward strength”. We need cohesive political messaging. But I’ve gone further. Starting in December, Greens can gather in interactive online meetings with Shadow Cabinet appointees. Together, we’ll develop solidarity regionally, nationally, even internationally. These meetings will also see members developing new policy proposals, evolving us to a continual Living Policy Process.
As any gardener can tell you, grassroots are tenacious and pervasive!
Our last two Virtual General Meetings (VGMs) were a triumph in Green solidarity. All the thanks goes to a huge volunteer effort, in concert with staff. This is what our key principle of Participatory Democracy is all about! It’s the essence of how Greens do politics differently.
Let’s have the Wisdom to Change.
Jonathan Pedneault
Good Sunday Morning,
Today, we give thanks. This revolutionary act of love and gratitude requires humility and self-awareness. Allow me to take a break from campaigning on this important occasion.
None of us walk where we are without steps taken elsewhere, at other times, by countless numbers of people, across lands and centuries.
None of us exists without the inheritance package – language, education, health, opportunities –the cards that we were dealt at birth but never asked for.
For this and much more, we must be grateful.
At this juncture however, parts of our inheritance package are no longer valid. The future demands change.
Our survival requires a new understanding of our place in the world. It depends on our ability to be grateful for the things that make our existence possible.
Biologically, our inner drive to survive pushes us to reject the idea that what we need or like will inevitably come to an absolute end. We ungratefully take much for granted.
That is why we are at such a loss when faced with death. We strive for infinity, yet all we truly know or experience is finite.
The candy box empties. Lovers turn to strangers. Parents are buried. Jobs are lost. Dreams squashed. Fridges emptied. Weekends transformed into Mondays. We die. And so is everything finite, really.
No matter how much we know this to be true, we try again, postpone, extend, replenish, produce or procreate as much as we can.
How else can we preserve a sense of purpose? If all things end, what need would they ever have to begin? What need would we have to be?
So we close our eyes, progressing blindly through the world as though it – and we alongside it – were infinite.
The last couple centuries of capitalist “progress” have isolated us further from the finite natural foundations that allow for our existence.
They have tricked us into ignoring, controlling or destroying nature, because nature reminds us of how small we are. Because finite nature denies our ability to reach for infinity and uphold the mythology of our own divinity.
This mythology blinds us to an abysmal reality: we are but a comma in the grand book of this planet’s existence. The universe will eventually turn the page.
While an end is unavoidable, its timing isn’t. Should we wish to delay the deadline, we must relish in the finite, give thanks and live humbler lives.
Why? Because of our responsibility to preserve and build upon the human experience we inherited.
Remove yourself from daily distractions and try and capture in a single look the immensity of what we collectively are. How can we not marvel at the bewildering implausibility of it all?
For all of its pain and horrors, it is a story of unparalleled beauty.
It’s a story we must protect, alongside all the precious things we give thanks for today. They make our implausible story possible. Thank you for contributing to mine.
Elizabeth May
Good Sunday Morning and Happy Thanksgiving!
For all the colonial background of this holiday, it is always good to count blessings. It is easy to feel resentful of those with more – more power, more money, more success- until you consider the several billion people less fortunate. I have always loved Hoff’s The Tao of Pooh:
“Do you really want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you’ve got.”
This Thanksgiving I have the joy of time with family. Deep gratitude. And I am grateful for the Green Party family. I am so grateful for the hard work Greens do for a better world. Thank you to members, supporters and amazing volunteers. Please remind everyone to join by October 19 to vote!
Go to our websites to sign up. Btw, leadership candidates are not given the emails of members. We won’t have your email unless you sign up! Go to elizabethmay.ca and jonathanpedneault.ca. More than ever, I see that Jonathan and my joint leadership is desperately needed.
Why we do this is obvious. Every single day brings more reports of climate casualties. While the East Coast still deals with Fiona and 30 million Pakistanis are flooded out of their homes, the BC drought is terrifying. People in my riding are extremely aware of the fire risk. It was the news from Bella Bella of dead salmon clogging the nearly dry riverbeds that brought me to tears.
This week I have been working hard in parliament on the climate crisis. This is likely the toughest climate question ever: Elizabeth May: UN Sec. General says leaders are lying about climate. Does he mean Canada’s leaders? – YouTube
We cannot ignore other key issues. In this speech I lay out the threat to public health care and emphasize Green solutions to the housing crisis, highlighting Mike Morrice’s work: Elizabeth May: Bill C-31 does not address the cause of skyrocketing housing costs – YouTube
I had to delay a planned return to BC when the government scheduled the Canadian Environmental Protection Act updates in S-5 to Friday. This bill is a priority, as is getting my own bill C-226 confronting environmental racism passed into law.
Elizabeth May: A right to a healthy environment must be enforceable – YouTube
Elizabeth May: Will the government create an enforceable right to a healthy environment? – YouTube
If you are not subscribing to our Parliamentary Week in Review, please do. You can always catch up with Mike and my parliamentary work here: https://elizabethmaymp.ca/
To everyone living on the Saanich Peninsula, please come to a non-partisan Community Meeting, Thursday, October 13, 6:30-8 pm at Sidney’s Mary Winspear Centre. We will have meetings on the Gulf Islands and more locations on the peninsula, trying to move back to pre-COVID schedule.
For now, thanks for all your support. We do need donations for the leadership run. Please give if you can!
Love and Thanksgiving blessings,
Elizabeth
Chad Walcott
Good Sunday Morning everyone!
I hope you all had a good week and are taking advantage of the long weekend to spend time with the people you care about.
Anna and I had quite a busy week! We had the pleasure of participating in two all-candidate events with Ontario Greens, a fireside chat, and a debate, which were great opportunities to discuss our vision for the future of the Green Party and to compare and contrast our policy priorities and approaches with the other candidates. I also had the pleasure of attending the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford AGM, which allowed me to gain a bit of insight into the realities they are facing on the ground.
Today the issue that is top of mind for me is the recent report by CBC’s Lyndsay Duncombe on the logging occurring in BC’s old-growth forests to provide so-called “green” fuel to the UK.
It would seem that the John Horgan-led NDP government is approving logging licenses to supply wood pellets to a UK-based power plant that is burning them as a “green” alternative to burning coal. According to Duncombe’s reporting, they justify calling cutting down and burning trees “green” — despite the fact that doing so actually produces more carbon emissions than coal — because “forests grow back”.
To me, this news is horrifying and is a clear example of what happens when our society is built around the notion that economic growth is justifiable at all costs. Environmental scientists tell us that it will take generations for the forests we cut to grow back, and in the meantime, we are destroying natural habitats, reducing biodiversity, and eliminating the very carbon sinks we need to absorb our already staggering emissions.
Despite all this, the BC government turns around and justifies this program as “good for the economy”. BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau and Green Forestry Critic Adam Olsen are fighting hard against this government they describe as being “entirely captured by industry”, but we must provide them with backup at the federal level.
While old-growth forests are being cut in BC, the Federal Liberals are sinking untold billions into the TMX pipeline and approving fracking in Québec, while the Poilievre Conservatives are ramping up pressure on the government to fast-track the approval of lithium mines. All this for the sake of “the economy”.
The thing is we Greens know best that without a planet, there is no “economy”. That is why it is more crucial than ever for the Green Party of Canada and our policies to take a central role in Canada’s political landscape. To do this we need to elect more Greens to Parliament, however, we cannot do that through name recognition alone. We need to ensure our members and candidates have the knowledge and resources to run strong campaigns throughout the country.
Anna and I have a solid plan and the know-how to get this done. That is why we are asking you to put your faith in us on November 19th.
Anna Keenan
Hello friends,
Chad and I have deeply enjoyed participating in two all-candidates debates in the past week, hosted by Ottawa and Kitchener-Waterloo region EDAs.
If you haven’t had a chance to see the 6 candidates in action, you can find the debate recordings (and an in-depth interview with the Nanaimo EDA!), on our “Interviews and Articles” page: www.keenanwalcott.ca/interviews_articles
We are delighted to announce that Chad and I will be in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island from October 19 to 23. Sign up on the front page at www.KeenanWalcott.ca to get updates about our exact event locations.
Today, I would like to offer a few words on nature-based solutions to the climate crisis.
Many of you in BC will be familiar with the work of Dr Farrukh Chishtie of UBC – he is an expert in Climate Adaptation, Mitigation and Resilience, and is our party’s Deputy Critic for Climate Change on the Shadow Cabinet. He is also a champion of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to climate mitigation and adaptation, especially as our communities face an ever-escalating risk of encountering natural disasters.
Over the last few hundred years, and particularly the last 40 or 50 years, settler society and associated industrialisation have drastically changed the face of Canada’s natural environment. By paving over forested land in critical watersheds, we’ve not only reduced our essential carbon sinks and harmed biodiversity, but also reduced the capacity of the land to absorb torrential rains resulting from climate change, worsening the risk of flooding. In the dry season, reduced forest cover leads to a lower rate of forest transpiration into the atmospheric water cycle, leading to increased dryness in our remaining bushland; the resulting tinder-boxes are more vulnerable to wildfire.
Likewise, by paving over wetlands to build waterfront cottages, highways or suburbs, we’ve not only affected biodiversity, but also reduced the capacity of those wetlands to stand up to climate-heightened storm surges in the face of hurricanes.
We Greens know: all things are connected. Natural spaces – and particularly wild natural spaces – deserve protection on the simple basis of their inherent value to non-human life. We also recognize that we humans are part of nature, not separate from it; choices that are good for nature and biodiversity are also good for us!
We must take care, as society scrambles to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, to not view the climate crisis solely as a numbers game of ‘parts per million CO2 equivalent’. Solutions to the climate crisis must also, simultaneously serve as solutions to the biodiversity crisis. Planting a billion trees in a carbon-sucking monoculture plantation is not the same as doing the patient, sustainable work of restoring a diverse, native forest ecosystem.
We Greens recognize that the climate crisis is a symptom of the values system of settler culture. Chad and I know that respect for nature is inherently linked to human wellbeing, and we are ready to lead a Green Party that leads Canada in a deep cultural values-shift.
Simon Gnocchini-Messier
(Texte en français)
Bulletin de l’ACE de Saanich-Gulf Islands
Bon dimanche matin – 9 octobre 2022
Bon dimanche matin !
Je suis heureux de partager avec vous mon plan pour les 180 premiers jours en tant que chef du Parti Vert du Canada. Vous pouvez lire le texte complet ici.
Pourquoi un plan de 180 jours ? Eh bien, tout d’abord, c’est une exigence du concours pour tous les candidats à la Chefferie. Jusqu’à présent, mes collègues Chad Walcott et Anna Keenan ont complété leur plan conjoint, et j’ai hâte de lire les plans de Jonathan Pedneault, Elizabeth May et Sarah Gabrielle Baron. Deuxièmement, les membres ont besoin de voir à quel point les candidats à la direction sont terre-à-terre et organisés dans leurs approches pour remettre le Parti Vert du Canada sur les rails.
Je ne crois pas qu’il faille saupoudrer de la poussière de fée dans les yeux des membres ou promettre de faire renaître le parti de ses cendres comme un phénix, surtout pas au cours des six premiers mois. Je crois plutôt que cette période initiale devrait être consacrée à la revitalisation des associations de circonscription et à l’obtention d’un consensus sur la manière dont les différents organes du parti devraient interagir et communiquer entre eux. Vous ne trouverez donc pas dans ce plan une multitude de promesses vides de sens, mais simplement des mesures très concrètes et pleines de bon sens, mais néanmoins difficiles, que tout dirigeant du PVC devra prendre.
Le plan reflète ma vision du parti : le PVC doit être la voix politique du mouvement environnemental du Canada et un phare pour la justice sociale. Par conséquent, notre rayonnement et notre dialogue avec tous les Canadiens doivent être continus et solides et doivent aborder non seulement l’urgence climatique, mais aussi les nombreuses iniquités que la centralisation actuelle de la richesse et du pouvoir entraîne. Seul un parti politique hautement cohésif et disposant d’une large base populaire pourra attirer l’attention des Canadiens.
Plus précisément, mon plan comporte trois objectifs :
1. reconstruire les ACE ;
2. revitaliser le Conseil fédéral et le réseau de bénévoles du parti ; et
3. redéfinir la relation entre le caucus et le Parti.
Je poursuivrai ces trois objectifs en parallèle, en respectant les échéances très précises du plan. Au cours des six premiers mois, j’ai l’intention de visiter les soixante ACE les plus actives du pays et de passer beaucoup de temps à discuter avec le Conseil fédéral, les bénévoles du PVC, le personnel et les membres du Caucus. Ce faisant, j’espère atteindre les résultats suivants :
1. une meilleure compréhension de la structure de gouvernance du parti par les membres des ACE, des lignes de communication plus claires, un dialogue respectueux et continu avec les ACE afin d’aligner les efforts nationaux pour répondre aux préoccupations des citoyens ordinaires, et l’établissement de stratégies ambitieuses appartenant aux ACE et axées sur les jeunes pour accroître l’adhésion au PVC ;
2. un consensus entre les conseillers fédéraux et les bénévoles au niveau national sur la meilleure façon d’accroître la cohésion et le sens de l’objectif au sein du PVC tout en respectant la diversité des opinions ; et
3. une relation de cohésion et de collaboration entre le Chef et le Caucus, qui éviterait les conflits et garantirait le principe selon lequel les membres déterminent les politiques.
J’apprécierais grandement vos commentaires sur ce plan et sur les plans de mes collègues candidats à la direction. Envoyez-moi un message à l’adresse info@simongmessier.ca.
Merci, Meegwech, HÍ SW KE
Simon Gnocchini-Messier
Jonathan Pedneault
Bon dimanche matin,
Aujourd’hui, nous rendons grâce. Cet acte de gratitude requiert son lot d’humilité. Permettez-moi de faire une pause dans ma campagne en cette occasion importante.
Aucun d’entre nous ne serait là où il se trouve sans les innombrables apports que d’autres personnes, à travers le monde et les siècles, ont contribué à notre vie commune.
Aucun d’entre nous n’existerait sans cet héritage commun – langue, éducation, santé, opportunités – qui constitue ce bagage que nous avons reçu à la naissance sans que nous ne l’ayons demandé.
Pour cela, et bien plus encore, nous devons être reconnaissants.
Cependant, à ce stade, certaines parties de notre héritage commun ne sont plus valables. La situation actuelle requière que nous révisions plusieurs de nos apriori.
Notre survie exige une nouvelle compréhension de notre place dans le monde. Une compréhension reposant sur notre capacité à être reconnaissants de tout ce qui rend notre existence possible.
Biologiquement, notre instinct de survie nous pousse toutefois à rejeter l’idée que ce dont nous avons besoin ou aimons en vienne à disparaître pour toujours. Nous prenons tout pour acquis.
C’est pourquoi nous sommes si désemparés face à la mort. Nous nous efforçons d’atteindre l’infini, mais tout ce que nous connaissons ou ressentons est circonscrit dans le temps et l’espace.
La boîte à bonbons se videra. Les amoureux se transformeront en inconnus. Les parents seront enterrés. Des emplois seront perdus. Nos rêves seront remisés. Les réfrigérateurs se videront. Les week-ends se transformeront en lundis. Nous mourrons. Parce que tout en vient à se terminer, au final.
Mais peu importe à quel point nous savons que c’est vrai, nous essaierons à nouveau, nous reporterons, prolongerons, produirons et nous reproduirons autant que nous le pouvons.
Sinon, comment trouver un sens à la vie ? Si toutes les choses ont une fin, quel besoin auraient-elles de commencer ? Quel besoin aurions-nous d’être ?
Alors nous fermons les yeux, progressant aveuglément dans le monde comme s’il était infini, et nous avec lui.
Ces deux derniers siècles de “progrès” capitaliste nous ont permis de nous isoler davantage des conditions naturelles limitées nécessaires à notre existence.
Ils nous ont incités à ignorer, à contrôler ou à détruire la nature, car celle-ci nous rappelle à quel point nous sommes petits. Parce que cette nature finie et limitée nie notre capacité à atteindre l’infini et à maintenir la mythologie de notre propre divinité.
Cette mythologie nous aveugle à une réalité abyssale : collectivement, nous ne sommes qu’une virgule dans le grand livre de l’existence de cette planète. L’univers finira un jour par tourner la page.
Bien que cette fin soit inévitable, l’heure du glas ne l’est pas. Si nous souhaitons retarder l’échéance, nous devons apprendre à nous réjouir des limitations que nous impose la nature, rendre grâce et vivre des vies plus humbles.
Pourquoi ? Parce que nous avons la responsabilité de préserver et de développer cette expérience humaine dont nous avons hérité. Et parce que notre manque d’humilité collective nous tue collectivement présentement.
Détachez-vous un moment des distractions quotidiennes qui vous entourent et essayez de saisir d’un seul regard l’immensité de ce que nous sommes collectivement. Comment ne pas s’émerveiller devant la déconcertante invraisemblance de tout ce que nous sommes ?
Malgré toute la douleur et les horreurs qui la caractérise, notre histoire en est une d’une beauté inégalée.
C’est une histoire que nous devons protéger, ainsi que toutes les choses desquelles nous sommes reconnaissants aujourd’hui. Ils rendent notre invraisemblable histoire possible. Merci de contribuer à la mienne.