Ian Gartshore

Now that it appears Thomas Mulcair is pulling out of the consortium's televised debates (thus following Stephen Harper's lead) the net result may be that Canadians do not get a chance to hear Elizabeth May in the debates. I wrote to the Globe and Mail last month, encouraging them to include her. Here is my response to theirs (their response can be read by clicking on this link ): Quoting one paragraph from their response: David Walmsley, The Globe’s editor-in-chief says, “We’ve set up the debate this way because we believe that by limiting the format to Canada’s three main party leaders, we will create a truly focused, successful discussion about the state of the Canadian economy.”  I responded: "As all three party leaders are fundamentally all neo-liberal in their world view (Mr. Mulcair was a cabinet minister in Quebec’s right-wing Liberal government) the debate may indeed be 'focused,' but sadly lacking any real diversity. With Mr. Mulcair no

As the Harper-led (dictated?) Conservatives continue on their path of wrecking the Canada we once knew by destroying both our economy and ecology, our peace-making place on the world stage, ripping up public support for the people of this land while handing the country over to corporations and China, instituting a secret police act that is reminiscent of Nazi Germany, plus far more, the hand-wringing among most informed Canadians is reaching a crescendo in this election year. A concerted effort is now underway to convince all the other political parties to cooperate in order to prevent another Conservative-controlled government. Sadly the egos of all parties but the Greens are preventing this kind of cooperation. So, it is thought, the next best option is to convince the electorate to vote for the party that stands the best chance of defeating the Conservatives. This is called “Strategic Voting.” Problem: it didn’t work the last time. In fact the Conservatives actually won more sea

Wow. I've never been to such an exciting political event in Nanaimo. The energy was positively electric! The federal Green Party AGM and nomination meeting for Nanaimo-Ladysmith was held on January 12th. It was opened very powerfully by Geraldine Manson, elder in residence of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. Then Paul Manly accepted the nomination in a speech that got better as he went along! The always amazing Elizabeth May then made promises to him (and us!) See both here .   Then Elizabeth gave a beautiful but short speech about how Paul's election, along with many other Greens (especially here on Vancouver Island) will provide the balance of power when the Conservatives are reduced to a minority government. Paul is a very strong candidate. He has been passionately involved in local, national and international events. He is the one who exposed the Quebec police acting as ill-behaved protesters at an international trade event. His films cover a wide