There's energy building in East Van around the Green Party nomination process and the prospect of real change here, and in Ottawa.
Irony can be a beautiful thing. Like a kind of symmetry or a form of justice.
These days I find few things more ironic than Canadian politics. Take Stephen Harper, the man who fought to rid us of usable public statistics because he felt the questions on our census invaded our privacy, he then turns around and unleashes the most invasive, prying and constitutionally reckless bill this country has ever seen, Bill C-51. Another "American style" omnibus bill aimed at transforming our country into a perpetually warmongering bastion of paranoia and corporate welfare. Or it certainly feels that way.
I've written about it a few times here on the Vancouver Observer as it has caused me grave concern as a citizen, to the point where I have been compelled to stand as one of those nominees with the Green Party of Canada in Vancouver East.
I want to point out a few more beautiful ironies though before I share with you why the Green Party matters more than ever in Vancouver, in BC, and in Canada, and why I'm hoping to be the candidate for the Greens here.
This Harper Government is exactly what the conservative movement in the U.S. and Canada has been warning us about for years.
This Harper Government is exactly what the conservative movement in the U.S. and Canada (and make no mistake, they are very much connected) has been warning us about for years. Profligate spending of our tax dollars, near record deficits, trying relentlessly to pry into our private lives, telling us how to live and what to wear, doling out corporate welfare in secretive off-the-record meetings like banana republic strongmen.
It is the very embodiment of "Big Government" and crony capitalism, and now as the economy over which it ostensibly presided is sputtering and crawling like a victim who has been knifed in the gut it has turned to fear, racism and paranoia to maintain power.
Yes, I find this to be ironic. After warning us all these years it turns out conservatives were right. This is bad.Thankfully some are now starting to raise concerns in the here and now, more and more with every passing week.
This "Harper Government" has lorded over our country with a lack of empathy or spirit of partnership, casting aside dissenting and differing opinions as inconveniences if not outrages. Nowhere has felt this more strongly than BC and our riding of Vancouver East.
Whether it has been to force pipelines through our communities with flawed review panels, limiting public inquiry and process, or harassing our many charities with CRA audits that appear to be politically motivated. Or dismissing concerned British Columbians as "radicals" and "extremists" and then introducing a disturbing bill that can act as a catch-all to persecute environmentalists and First Nations in B.C. like terrorists.
In B.C., it feels like we have been defending ourselves from this government for years now. In some cases, literally. On the receiving end of "Alberta style siege politics". So to many of us C-51 just feels like another link in the chain that is being tightened around Canadian democracy and our lives, part of a systematic process to dismantle and remake Canada into the things we've criticized our neighbours to the south about for years (lovingly, and with genuine concern of course).
Gun culture, mass surveillance, racial profiling, domestic spying, mega-prisons, growing racist and bigoted language from politicians, erosion of debate and parliamentary process, the Tea Party and the race to the right, Fox News style media, a departure from evidence-based decision making. Things we always thought were American problems, under Harper and the Conservatives, are becoming Canadian problems.
Here in Vancouver the Harper Government has battled relentlessly to close Insite, the safe-injection site in the Downtown Eastside. This despite reports that Insite has saved lives and dramatically reduced disease rates as it helps people to transition out of addiction. People here fought to have it opened for a reason and we're fighting to keep it open for a reason. It works in this community.
The federal government has also enacted laws that make sex work more dangerous, because after 62 women disappearing from our communities in Vancouver East to be murdered by a sadistic creep what we need is vulnerable women to be even less safe here, right?
It's cruel. And I believe things have to change.
I’ve lived and worked in the communities that comprise Vancouver East for the majority of my 17 years in Vancouver. I've devoted the last decade of my professional and academic career to better understanding why poverty and many other challenges persist in East Van, and what kinds of policies, strategies and partnerships we can create to change that. They sure as hell aren't being created in Ottawa right now.
For the last four years I've been the Executive Director for one of the city's Business Improvement Areas in the riding. Hastings Crossing BIA. We started it to be a very different kind of business organization, one that collaborates with disparate groups holding different ideas so as to create opportunities for businesses and residents alike.
Cooperation, collaboration, taking into consideration very different views and concerns and bridging those differences has been at the heart of this incredible job. If nominated, and if elected, I intend to bring the same spirit of partnership, empathy, and collaboration to Ottawa. Here's a bit about why I'd be excited to do it as a Green MP.
Support and interest in the Green Party continues to surge across the country but most especially in BC. This province has felt bullied, intimidated and condescended to by the Harper Government and the multinational oil and gas industries that it acts as a publicly funded PR firm for. We're tired of it, and now we have a chance to change it. Nobody has stood up for BC more than this province's elected Green MP, Elizabeth May.
As May and the Green Party’s approval ratings continue to grow stronger in BC, it’s positioned to send more Green MPs to represent us in Ottawa, and that’s worth taking note of. With the other three parties locked in a three-way race it appears that in 2015 we will likely elect a minority government, possibly even a coalition. That is if the Liberals and NDP listen to the growing chorus of Canadians asking for cooperation between the parties to form a government that doesn’t increasingly scare them. The Greens have committed ourselves to working with the Liberals or the NDP in the interest of good, responsible government.
With more seats in parliament the Green Party could end up holding the balance of power in Ottawa. In effect, this means that British Columbia could end up holding the balance of power in Ottawa.
Conservative friends of mine know that while our politics differ — sometimes greatly (I'm pro-union and proud member of the TSSU, an environmentalist, and support your right to wear a niqab or anything else) — I am always willing to respectfully listen to opinions that differ with mine. I believe I may be able to learn from them, enabling me to make a better decision or contribute to a better discussion.
I think that's a big part of what Parliament is, ideally. A place for leaders to learn how to come to the best decisions and hold better discussions regarding the range of things that impact the lives of Canadians in our diverse communities. It deserves more respect than Harper and Conservative MPs give it. Which is arguably none.
With more seats in Parliament. the Green Party could end up holding the balance of power in Ottawa. In effect, this means that British Columbia could end up holding the balance of power in Ottawa. For a community and province that has felt increasingly alienated if not outright politically assaulted by Ottawa, Vancouver East and B.C. would become more relevant than ever in Parliament, our ideas, our concerns, our voice would matter more than ever as we commit ourselves to work with the other parties in the interest of our country and our communities, on behalf of you.
I think it's time for change in Vancouver East, and in Ottawa. So if you live in one of the several communities that make up this riding, and what I've said here resonates with you, please consider learning more and becoming a member of the Green Party of Canada. It will be more meaningful than ever.
There's something beautiful and just about that symmetry.