greenpolitics.ca

Stuart Hertzog believes that the primary task of the Green Party is not the environment, but to defend and develop Democracy. He is concerned that Canadian Green parties have drifted away from their Green political principles in their drive for political power. Centralising decision-making into federal council and the leader has alienated Green grassroots activists and undermined the party’s membership base.

Book Review Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May has written an interesting but politically disappointing book on the dysfunctional state of Canada’s parliamentary democracy. Although it could be used as a lay-person’s guide to Canada’s Westminster-style politics, May provides no real insight as to how this inauthentic, fractious, and ethically corrupt mess can be cleaned up and genuine democracy attained. She knows the score, but fails to understand the nature of the game.

Although BC-STV nearly squeaked by in 2005, it went down in flames spectacularly this year. Despite the almost $750,000 spent and aided by a small army of volunteers, poor process, too many amateur cooks on the ‘Yes!’ side’s committees, a complicated voting system badly explained, and too-large electoral areas meant that BC-STV was practically doomed from the start. Could it have been deliberately set up to fail? Or was this just a case of hubris?

Book Review Political activist Judy Rebick has written a visionary and inspiring book that shows how applied people-power can transform politics from being élitist, secretive, and corrupt, into genuinely open, grassroots, and democratic systems. Her writing is highly-charged and visionary, but her focus on South American politics glosses over the fact that Canadian political culture is very different. Can western democracy be transformed, or are we just too affluent to organise for change?

Book Review University of Toronto associate professor of political science Nelson Wiseman retraces the well-worn historical path In Search of Canadian Political Culture. It’s an erudite, insightful, and sweeping analysis of Canadian political history, but in the opinion of our reviewer it misses the mark in that it fails to provide guidance to those struggling for social and ecological justice on this planet at at time when the dominant human culture is out of control.

Introduction Will Canadian politics be simply a continuation of the feudal class struggles of the past, or have globalisation and the Internet brought about a political sea change that will result in a radically transformed and more polarised political landscape? Here are two books that each represent radically different visions of the past and future of Canadian democracy.

Some political commentators focus on differences between light and deep greens, while others stress the distinction between between left and right greens. Saskatchewan writer David Greenfield has identified nine distinct types of green, covering almost the entire spectrum of contemporary political and ecological views, and believes it is important to name them to find a way forward for the contemporary ecological movement.

A trip to a ferry terminal turned into a reminder of the fragility of democratic rights and the insidious way that both Liberal and Conservative governments have secretly adopted the self-serving corporate agenda of North American integration. Is the repressive, anti-democratic Security and Prosperity Partnership the beginning of The Age of Razor Wire? Wake up, froggies! The water is beginning to boil!

Book Review If you’re wondering why all recent prime ministers start behaving like autocrats once in office, it’s because Canada and the UK have moved to a Court system of government, explains University of Moncton public administration professor Donald Savoie. Not light reading, but an invaluable book if you want to understand Canadian federal politics.

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.