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Sections cover News and Events, Being Green, and General Interest.
Links to back issues, subscribe/unsubscribe, and join the SGI Greens are at the end.
Saanich Fair (August 30 – September 1)
Many came to our tent to give Elizabeth a big “Thank you!” for her work.
Some stayed for lengthy chats.
The issues board prompted reflection and good discussions.
Climate action and affordable housing got the most dots as “issues that matter the most to you.”
SGI Greens (Green Party of Canada) News and Events:
October 11 Deadline for nominations
to the SGI EDA’s Executive Committee
Electing new members to our Executive Committee is one of the important functions at the AGM. Members serve for a 3-year term, so about a third of the team is elected each year, while the others provide continuity. We are an active and engaged team that enjoys our time together while striving to ensure a strong and relevant voice for Greens in our area.
Please consider nominating yourself or someone else and submit nominations to Shelagh Levey. The deadline for nominations is October 11th, 2025. If you have any questions, Shelagh will be happy to help.
October 18, 2-4 p.m. Annual General Meeting
(Saturday) SGI Greens can elect new Executive members.
Please note that we will include a virtual AGM room for online participation, including voting. More information regarding will be emailed out before the meeting.
Please check your membership to ensure it is active so that you can vote at the AGM. To participate, you must have been a member of the GPC for at least thirty (30) days prior to the meeting. If you are not a member or would like to renew your membership, please visit the Green Party of Canada membership page here.
We hope to see you at the AGM!
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The Saanich-Gulf Islands Electoral District Association is one of the most active riding associations in Canada.
- We supported the 2025 election campaign that got Elizabeth May re-elected despite considerable political headwinds.
- We helped another EDA and the national party with loans (one has already been repaid).
- We hosted two film screenings with panel discussions at the Star Cinema.
- We hosted appreciation events for members and are considering throwing a Christmas/solstice party in November or December..
We’re always looking for fresh ideas and volunteers willing to help out. It’s fun and rewarding, so do consider joining other active members on the sidelines or on the Executive.
National Green Party of Canada News and Events:
The national Green Party is busy with:
- a Leadership Review,
- the election of new officers to the Federal Council, and
- getting ready for the next federal election.
The Leadership Review is required by our constitution within six months of a federal election. Voting ends September 30 at 3 p.m. PT.
- Elizabeth is urging members to vote Yes (that you are satisfied with her and want her for her to continue as leader), to provide stability until a Leadership Contest can be planned and run within a year. She is not interested in running for leadership in that contest. She and many others feel that this is the best way for the Party to make a smooth transition to new leadership.
- Some members disagree, and urge voting No, to show Canadians and party members that the Green Party is focused on renewal under new leadership as soon as possible. Their website, gpcrenewal.ca, provides answers to related questions you may have.
- Regardless if the result is Yes or No, Elizabeth will continue to be MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands until the next federal election. [see Addendum on p. 7, sent Sep 20]
About half of the Federal Council members are elected each year. Nominations closed on September 12; campaigning occurs from September 22 – October 5, and voting from October 6 – October 20. Check your emails, consider the choices, and vote!
The next federal election is required in 2029, but could be sooner if the Carney government loses a confidence vote or calls an early election when it sees a favourable opportunity. The Green Party is working hard to repay a bank loan within the next year and then build resources in preparation for the next election. Elizabeth intends to run again in the next election to continue her work as our MP.
Members are receiving emails with details and links to vote online.
Members are urged to take these opportunities to vote and be an active voice in the party’s internal democracy!
BC Greens News and Events:
The Leadership Contest is in full swing. Voting opened on September 13 and continues until September 23, 2025.
Still undecided? You can check out the contestants here and their Leaders’ Debate here.
If you are a member, ensure that you are “verified” as eligible to vote. Then look for the email that provides a link to vote – and VOTE!
Members are officially invited to the Leadership Contest Announcement on Wednesday, September 24, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM PT (check-in from 9:30 onward), at The Parkside Hotel – 810 Humboldt St, Victoria, V8V 5B1, and online.
Looking ahead, the 2025 AGM & Convention will be held Friday, November 14 – Sunday, November 16, 2025, at the Coast Coal Harbour Vancouver Hotel, 1180 West Hastings St, Vancouver.
On Being Green:
Young people
Young people are feeling a great deal of climate anxiety and general anxiety about the future. Discussion with some young Greens at the Saanich Fair about how they and others in their age group are dealing with this raised words like “nihilism” (i.e., feeling that life is meaningless), “dissociation” (i.e., feeling detached from reality), and feeling “disenfranchised” (i.e., feeling powerless to make changes).
Each generation has its issues that threaten to “end the world as we know it.” For example, Boomers grew up under the threat of nuclear war. Now we have new threats like climate breakdown and AI takeover. The problem, as pointed out by a young Green at the Fair, is that the old threats, including nuclear war, have not gone away – the threats are piling up! It’s getting to be too much!
Clearly, some young people have found their own personal reasons to do whatever they can. Being Green, for instance, and pushing for the implementation of Green policies. What can they and other not-so-young Greens do to encourage more young people to take action?
Simple, physical activities that get people out with others and result in tangible improvement, no matter how small, are perhaps best for overcoming feelings of futility about the future. Suggestions from young people included planting trees, pulling invasive plants and beach cleanups. Please share your suggestions by writing to sgiedanews@gmail.com
Normality Bias
Ignoring threats and believing that current life will continue, known as Normalcy Bias or Normality Bias, is a common response to the threat of disaster. It delays responding constructively. It doesn’t help if a car crash is imminent, and it won’t help prevent climate breakdown or various other issues. It may be expressed as climate denial: “The climate has always been changing.” It can be entrenched as a refusal to consider changes in power structures and policies: “Why change things if the status quo works for me (e.g., pays well or is highly profitable)?”
Many young (and older) people happily “tune out” and focus on finding happiness in their own lives and ignoring threats to their current life.
Greens believe in looking at evidence, both positive and negative, and acting to address threats. What kind of evidence? Among others, follow the money and follow the science.
Values
What are the values that drive us? Or more particularly, what are the values that drive you?
It is well worth taking time to think about what personal views and values motivate you, and how you can bring these to bear as a Green.
Research in the world of business has found that employees who are asked to think about how their values and sense of purpose align with the company they work for tend to either leave, move within the company, or increase their productivity in their current work. Importantly, “the overall impact of this experiment on the firm’s performance was positive.”
General Interest:
From Fix the News:
Recently, the WHO and UNICEF released a report on water, sanitation and hygiene. It’s a treasure trove of data, and the change since 2000 is staggering. Back then, only two-thirds of humanity could drink safe water; today it’s three-quarters, despite the world’s population growing by two billion over this period.
During the same time, sanitation has gone from being accessible to less than half of the world to nearly 60%, and basic handwashing has gone from 59% to 80% of the global population.
The scale of this is almost impossible to get your head around. We are talking about billions of lives altered in the most tangible of ways: homes with taps, schools with toilets, clinics where soap and water are always available.
Those numbers represent real children playing in the streets instead of dying from some horrible disease, hundreds of millions of mothers spared the daily burden of carrying water, and countless communities freed to focus on more than just survival.
These are huge improvements for vast numbers of people. They are the result of many people doing good work – because it is the right thing to do.
From “Science Under Siege”, a new book by Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Hotez
“We fight for a livable planet, for us, our children, and future generations. Because it’s worth fighting for.”
Published by the Saanich–Gulf Islands Electoral District Association of the Green Party of Canada.
Please send feedback and contributions to this newsletter to sgiedanews@gmail.com.
Saanich–Gulf Island Greens publish two newsletters:
The monthly SGI Greens Newsletter
The weekly Good Sunday Morning — Elizabeth May’s perspective
Current and back issues of both are at https://sgi.edagreens.ca/news-events/
To subscribe to one or both newsletters, go to sgigreenparty.ca/signup_2020.
Click here to unsubscribe from one or both newsletters.
We acknowledge and respect the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples, on whose territory we live.
The SGI EDA aims to work with them towards a meaningful and mutually beneficial reconciliation.
Addendum: SGI Greens Newsletter – September 2025 – Please Read
In our haste to send out the recent SGI newsletter this Thursday (which attempted to provide a democratic review of voting in the leadership review), we now realize we omitted to include the most important part – the support of the SGI board for Elizabeth’s leadership and the reasons we have this position.
You may have heard that Elizabeth is planning to resign as Leader of the Green Party of Canada as soon as a new leader is elected. The Board wholeheartedly agrees that a carefully planned leadership race is necessary, and that a YES vote in the current leadership review is the best course of action. Elizabeth is eager to cancel the debt caused by a very unusual federal election, and she feels that this can be done quite quickly. Elizabeth feels it is critical that our next leader/leaders step into a position of strength – a party with money in the bank and an exciting, well planned leadership contest. Only then will it be possible to attract first class candidates. By voting YES, you will enable our incredible, hard working MP the opportunity to prepare a smooth handover without an interim period of other leadership.
If Elizabeth is not endorsed as leader, an interim leader will have to be appointed, someone not voted in by the membership and who will be paid a salary (Elizabeth volunteers her time as leader and is not paid). The interim leader would certainly not have the name recognition and media accessibility that Elizabeth has.
The SGI board wholeheartedly supports Elizabeth remaining as leader while the debt is erased, an inspiring and organized leadership contest is arranged and great candidates recruited. The Federal Council is responsible for the planning and execution of the leadership contest and they have already started to prepare. Elizabeth looks forward to an exciting contest that attracts many new members.
The executive of the Saanich-Gulf Islands Electoral District Association supports our Member of Parliament as Leader of the GPC, and we hope you do too. If you are a member, please vote YES in the leadership review that closes September 30 at 3 pm Pacific.