Goin' Green

I don't talk politics much. I grew up in an atmosphere where voting persuasions were all kept closely guarded secrets lest someone make fun of you for the way you voted. We don't talk about it because we might offend someone, or, more likely, someone might make us look like idiots and that's a pretty crappy feeling so it's easier just to avoid the topic altogether.

But if we don't talk about it, how are we ever going to learn, or decide who we want to vote for and for what reasons? So I'm going to go out on a limb here and talk about it even though I'm not a very politically minded person.

The first few elections I ever had an opportunity to vote in I voted NDP. Somehow, when I was young and naive, I decided that capitalism was wrong, and socialism was the way to go. Conservatives were the devil, and NDP was the way to vote. I losened up after that and became a fairly faithful Liberal voter. Why? Mostly because they were winning and they weren't the devil. Then I lost my faith in the whole system for awhile and decided my vote didn't matter much anyway because people in this riding were just going to keep voting in the devil no matter who I voted for, so I just quit voting for awhile.

The last couple elections though, both provincially and federally, I've gone Green. I know they're not going to win, they certainly aren't going to pull a majority government out of their butts anytime soon, but there's something about them that is just very fresh and inviting. Plus, Elizabeth May is freaking smart, and well rounded, and blew away all the other candidates on the last federal televised debate!

This evening, she spoke in Owen Sound. It's one of three or four places she's considering running in during the next election due to the unbelievable success of the party in this area. (By the way, she's predicting an election call in September with us being at the polls as early as November - woohooo.) The Green Party is doing everything they can to finally get themselves a seat, and obviously, they'd like their leader to have that seat.

The picture here by the way, is of Elizabeth May and Dick Hibma (the Green Party candidate who ran in the area in the last federal election - he came in 2nd behind the stalwart devil party [Prolly shouldn't keep calling them that, eh? Should at least try to be nice to the Tories even though they're not my favourite.]). Shane Jolley, the local provincial candidate for the Green Party was also in the crowd.

Elizabeth May did not show up in Owen Sound to speak about her Green Party platform. She spoke about putting integrity back into democracy. About restoring respect in, and within, the system. It was a great talk!

She talked about non-partisanship: political parties not being in it for the win and the rights to be the king of the hill, but parties working together and co-operating for the greater good of the country! Wouldn't that be grand?! She talked about the title 'Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition' - they might be the opposing party, but they should still be working towards the same purpose, not spending their time running attack ads and swearing at each other during question period! LOYAL Opposition: Loyal to the country, and to the people who put them into power.

She talked for an hour, and I could have easily listened to her for another hour. The woman is smart! She knows what she's talking about, she'd dedicated to the cause, and she's an incredibly gifted speaker. I firmly believe that she is committed to restoring integrity, respect, principals, and inter-party co-operation to our federal government. As much as the Green Party is important, she understands that government is government and everyone needs to work together, regardless of party affiliation, to make it work well. The cross she wears around her neck is an extra indication (to me anyway) that she actually means what she says.

She also talked a lot about 'First Past the Post' voting vs 'Proportional Representation' voting. With our 1100 year old First Past the Post method of voting, we have now reached an all time low 58.8% voter turnout because people feel like their votes don't make a difference. Did you know that with this electoral system, the Green Party got 1 million votes the last election but won zero seats whereas the Bloc Quebecois had 1.3 million votes and won 49 seats!! That's Canadian democracy at play. Woo. Proportional Representation would fix that. It would actually give the parties a number of seats based on how many votes they earned, and give the voter an actual voice in the election.

Elizabeth May has done something no one else has ever done - get me excited about politics! I'm voting Green next election. You could vote Green too - but more importantly, JUST VOTE! And the next time we have a referendum about changing our voting system to Proportional Representation, vote for that too!