greenpolitics.ca

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.

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.

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.

Although philosopher George Santayana offered the sage advice to learn from history or repeat it, it seems that his message hasn’t yet reached the inner sanctum of the Green Party of BC. By parachuting herself into the recently-announced Victoria-Fairview byelection, leader Jane Sterk is making the same mistake as her predecessor.

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.