by Pat Carl | Sep 3, 2017 | Member Submitted Articles, Newsletters
By Pat Carl September 2017 The BC provincial election in the spring of 2017 was a watershed moment. Three Green Party candidates were elected. After the NDP succeeded in its courtship dance with the Greens, an agreement was signed. The Greens and NDP agreed to work together in order to form a stable provincial government. Some Greens think an agreement with the NDP sells out Green Party principles; others think an agreement is necessary in order to finally wield significant political power which may change the legislative agenda. And therein lies the rub. See, the Green Party is standing at the edge of a precipice. With a bit of organization and a bit of will and a few astute candidates, it’s very possible that, within the next several provincial elections (and possibly the next few federal ones), Greens may elect a significant number of members to parliament, so significant that the party may actually be the opposition party (and then, who knows, the governing party). But being in opposition or even governing requires a different set of skills than working at the grassroots level. On the one hand, when the good folks on Denman Island clean up Baynes Sound of the plethora of plastic deposited in it by certain portions of the shellfish industry, they take grassroots action. On the other hand, a governing party may work to pass legislation that requires the shellfish industry (in consultation) to clean up after itself as part of gaining licensing approval for its operations. So, while grassroots’ actions and movements are the fodder that births a political party, movements and...
by Pat Carl | Jul 27, 2017 | Member Submitted Articles, Newsletters
by Pat Carl July 2017 During early July, I visited my mother in Des Moines, Iowa. I was raised and spent most of my life in the USA, so I am familiar with the States’ mania for all things red, white, ‘n blue. Still, in taking my morning walks, I was struck anew by what I think of as the frenetic patriotism that grips the States, especially around July 4. I saw US flags attached to garages and on flagpoles, flags painted on mailboxes, and a red, white, ‘n blue whirligig prominently displayed in a well-tended flower garden. Following my walk, I stopped into the local grocery store for a Starbucks and was treated to various small red, white, ‘n blue displays around bakery department cakes (also sporting unappetizing patriotic colours), organic food displays with small, desk-sized flags bracketed between strategic mounds of gourmet cheese, and rows of small red, white, ‘n blue flags atop each door in the freezer section. All this over-sell reeks of superficiality, a crass and shallow single-minded devotion to the image of American exceptionalism, an image that seriously underplays America the global bully, the land of the racist, and the home of the fanatic. Having grown up in this environment, when I came to Canada I thought Canadians shy about expressing their patriotism. Gradually, though, I learned Canada was a country proud of its peacekeepers, a country attached to pluralism and a heartfelt generosity. A country in which hijab-clad women can sport the red maple leaf tattooed on their faces on July 1. A country of politicians who, when confronted by 22 Minutes’ cameras...