Must Reads from Last Week
BC Electoral Reform Referendum
The BC government consultation site for the 2018 referendum is up. They are looking for feedback between now and February 28, 2018, at 4 p.m. Everyone please check out the questionnaire and make a written submission if you think some of the questions are too confusing or obscure. There are links to read about different systems, the questionnaire, and for written submissions to citizenengagement@gov.bc.ca.
But BEFORE YOU GO TO THE SURVEY, check out Fair Vote BC’s guide to the questionnaire. Fair Vote has gone through the survey and provides thoughts on the questions.
BC Electoral Reform Referendum: Get involved locally
Check out Fair Vote Comox Valley Facebook page and Fair Vote BC’s page.
Fair Vote Comox Valley is also now accepting donations. If you can’t give your time, here is your opportunity to support this campaign over the next year. E-transfers can be made to: fairvotecomoxvalley@gmail.com. If you do an e-transfer, please put your name in the Note field and some sort of contact information so we can thank you.
In order to get to a 50+1 Yes vote on the referendum, we need your help to counter the opposition’s hyperbole. This is our moment to change BC’s electoral system. Get in on the action! Contact Megan at m.ardyche@gmail.com if you’d like information on participating in any way.
New electoral reform proponent society
The more people organize around this referendum the better!
Locally:
Hit the U.S. where it hurts - money
Terry Farrell of The Comox Valley Record has an idea – don’t spend our money in the United States for as long as Donald Trump is in power. I’d take it one step further, let’s tell them that we’re not spending our money there. We could let the US Department of Commerce know roughly how much money we’re NOT bringing to the US every time we choose to vacation within Canada, or anywhere else than the US.
Provincially:
Site C
Here is a link to live streaming of the Site C Summit in Victoria this weekend.
Kinder Morgan
There was a tanker accident and resulting huge oil spill off the coast of China on January 14th. I saw the report on CBC’s The National. How does this relate to Kinder Morgan you ask? Well, Dave Mills of Dogwood posted an essay using the tanker accident/spill off China’s coast to exemplify the risk we run with allowing Kinder Morgan. His essay is aptly called, “Spills are an ocean away – until they’re not.” With all the stuff happening in B.C. this year, let’s not lose sight of Kinder Morgan.
Nationally:
What does a Green MP look like?
Another short video of Elizabeth May, this time at the international Women’s March in Victoria.
Elizabeth May in Election Debates
Part 1:
Green Party of Canada Petition to Minister Gould to allow Elizabeth in debates in the 2019 election.
Part 2:
The Federal government is conducting an online consultation on political party leaders’ debates. Deadline: February 9, 2018.
Excerpt: “We are eager to hear from you about the changes that you would like to see …. Your feedback will be used to inform policy work to create an independent commissioner to organize political party leaders’ debates. The goal is to have a new structure in place for the 2019 federal election period.”
Here is a sample submission: “Not every party leader should be in the debate. However, I would support a leader being in the debates if a party gets more than 5% of the vote (10% if we had a proportional system) in more than 3 regions in the country, even if they don’t have a seat; or any party with more than 5% of the vote in at least 3 regions which also has a seat; or any party with a seat and at least 20% of the vote in at least one region.”
Elizabeth May takes the Federal Liberals to task for their Failure of Leadership on climate change
Globally:
New Zealand Greens
James Shaw from New Zealand tweeted out a whole string, laying out a blueprint for New Zealand becoming the world’s first sustainable economy by “changing what we count.” Dr. Dan O’Neill, the keynote speaker at the BC Green Party AGM this summer was talking about the same thing. GDP just isn’t good enough – it doesn’t measure the things that will lead to a sustainable future.
Climate Change
Bloomberg Businessweek has another interesting piece on how climate change can make borrowing more expensive.
Excerpt: “Now bond rating agencies such as Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings are looking at whether they should be including more disaster forecasting in calculating the grades they give to government debt and to companies in industries ranging from insurance to construction.”
