greenpolitics.ca

An environmental time bomb that could put Canada’s rivers and coastal regions under threat of energy, resort or industrial development has been quietly hidden under cover of the billions of dollars of economic stimulus in the 2009 budget bill. Passing it would make the Liberal Party complicit with Harper in gutting Canada’s environmental protection laws.

A powerful coalition of environmental groups, unions, scientists, business people and citizens is challenging Stephen Harper to invest up to $41 billion in green energy funding and infrastructure energy efficiency updates in this month’s budget. But behind the scenes, Stephen Harper may be planning to gut Canada’s Environmental Protection Act.

In this concluding article, John Ryan explains why there is enough common ground for the federal Liberal, NDP and Green parties to form a mutually-acceptable and visionary political partnership that can defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, form a coalition government, and lead Canada towards a progressive and independent future.

Long-time political observer John Ryan believes that a strategic political agreement between the Liberals, NDP, and Greens will enable them to win the next Canadian federal election and form a coalition government. Only then would the majority of Canadians have a government that would reflect their views, values, and interests, he explains.

Canadians have voted in this election not to give the Conservative Party an overall majority, which means that two-thirds of the voting public do not want Stephen Harper to continue as prime minister. I have sent this letter to the Governor General requesting her not to agree to another minority government. Feel free to copy and circulate it. You send one, too — it’s time for action!

For the opposition parties to form a coalition government, a formal letter stating their intent and ability to do so must sent to the Governor General as soon as the election results are announced. The leaders of the four opposition parties must immediately begin negotiations to thrash out a working agreement for the next parliament. To delay would be to open the door for a second and perhaps even more repressive Stephen Harper minority régime that 64% of Canadians do not want.

It’s time for the four Canadian opposition parties to come together in a coalition to stop the awful prospect of yet another mandate for what could soon prove to be the meanest, most secretive, most militaristic, and most repressive ultra-right government in Canadian history.

As polls show public support for the Green Party of Canada rising steadily to between 10% and 12% nationally and up to 15% here in BC, the tension between possible electoral success and the party’s set of basic Green political values becomes even more apparent. The problem is that most party members have no knowledge or understanding of core Green values.

Canadians looking for a level playing field in the 2008 Canadian election are being let down by the decision of the nation’s major broadcasters not to invite Green Party leader Elizabeth May to take part in the crucial televised leadership debate. Stephen Harper and Jack Layton may yet rue the day they decided not to let Elizabeth May play in their sandbox.

Although an eight-month Elections Canada investigation cleared him of any serious wrongdoing, the choice of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast MP Blair Wilson as Canada’s first Green MP throws serious doubt on Green Party leader Elizabeth May’s commitment to the fundamental Green political principles of ecocentrism and grassroots democracy.