“Living Green”: An interview with Susan Holvenstot

by | May 28, 2016 | Environment, News and Events, Newsletters, Political Activity, Social Justice

Susan Holvenstot, Green Party supporter  As part of a series of “Living Green” interviews with local Green Party supporters, I had the pleasure of interviewing Comox Valley resident Susan Holvenstot. Susan spent a month this past winter visiting indigenous occupation camps in Northwestern B.C., to prevent the use of these unceded lands for LNG and tarsand oil exports. In her answers below, you will find out how she demonstrated her Green Party values to become an ally of indigenous efforts to stop pipelines and tankers on our coast.   Q. Susan, thanks for taking the time to participate in this interview.  I heard you had a pretty interesting winter. What were you up to? A. I went to two different places in Northwest B.C., Unist’ot’en, near Houston and Lelu Island, next to Prince Rupert, where First Nations people are reclaiming their land. They are building and living in permanent camps in the line of proposed pipelines. I went to visit these two locations and help run the camps for a month during the winter. Q. What are the communities hoping to accomplish with these camps? A. Northern B.C. is awash with industrial development, much of which we aren’t even aware of in other parts of B.C. and Canada. There are dozens of proposals for pipelines and natural gas infrastructure all across Northwestern B.C.. Some of the pipelines are for tar sands oil, but others are for new infrastructure for Liquid Fracked Gas. The First Nations people are at the front lines of stopping this from happening. They have unceded ownership of the land, and are constructing and living in...

Green Party Fully Supports Pharmacare2020 Report Recommendations

by | Jul 23, 2015 | News and Events, Political Activity, Social Justice

91% of Canadians support an affordable medicine program (OTTAWA) – The Green Party of Canada issued the following statement this month in support of the Pharmacare2020 report released today by the Pharmacare2020 group of health professionals (Doctors Danielle Martin, Steven G. Morgan, Marc-André Gagnon, Barbara Mintzes, Jamie R. Daw, and Joel Lexchin): “The Green Party welcomes the Pharmacare2020 Report and fully supports its four key recommendations – universal access to medicine, fair distribution of prescription drug costs, safe and appropriate prescriptions, and maximum health benefits per dollar spent,” said Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and MP (Saanich – Gulf Islands). Ms. May continued, “Canada needs a national Pharmacare program, which would allow more than 2 million Canadians to access prescriptions that they otherwise could not afford. The fact that this program would save Canadians up to $11 billion dollars each year makes both health and economic sense. This is report is bold and historic – It is Phase II that compliments our universal healthcare system, which is praised and envied around the world. I commend the authors!” Daniel Green, Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada and candidate (Ville-Marie–Le Sud-Ouest–Île-des-Sœurs), continued: “Today’s Pharmacare2020 report, which was endorsed by over 100 health policy experts from coast to coast to coast, creates a path towards making affordable medicine available to Canadian families. A recent Angus Reid Institute Poll showed that an overwhelming majority of Canadians – over 91% – want medicine that is affordable. The report states that all developed countries with a universal health care system provide universal coverage of prescription drugs — except Canada.  This is not acceptable for Canadians. “As the Council of the Federation meets today...

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