Message from the CEO

The Greens of North Island-Powell River (NIPR) Electoral District Association (EDA) Executive have been hard at work since the election. 

The campaign team worked incredibly hard during the election. Mark de Bruijn, as candidate, probably worked harder than anyone, but right beside him all the way was Mark Tapper, the campaign manager. The campaign had four offices: A pop-up office in Port McNeill, an office in Campbell River, one in Powell River, and another in Comox. That in itself is a phenomenal achievement. Throughout the riding, over 150 volunteers came out to help to varying degrees and in varying capacities.

But the campaign is behind us and the Executive is looking forward to how to keep that momentum going. We’ve been working on strategic objectives during January, and we’re ready to take those objectives to Powell River on February 23. If you live on Texada Island or in the Powell River area and you’d like to attend, please RSVP here. Sometime in March and/or April, we hope to do the same workshop in Campbell River, Comox, and perhaps Port McNeill/Port Hardy.

Stay tuned for updates on this exciting project.

Megan Ardyche
CEO

The BC NDP are fundraising like crazy, and so there are suspicions that an election might be called before October 2021. Within the NIPR riding, the BC Greens are starting to organize.

Powell River-Sunshine Coast Riding Association Annual General Meeting - Powell River Location

WHEN: February 29, 3-5 pm
WHERE: Powell River Public Library, Meeting Room B, Unit 100 - 6975 Alberni Street.
RSVP here.

Courtenay-Comox Riding Association Formation Meeting

WHEN: March 1, 2-4 pm
WHERE: Comox Community Centre, 1855 Noel Ave
RSVP here.

This is a meeting to see whether Comox Valley Greens want to form a Riding Association. You must be a BC Green Party member for 14 days in order to vote. If the decision is to form a Riding Association, then there will be an immediate election of officers for the Board.

BC Greens Leadership Race

The BC Greens are in the process of a leadership race since Andrew Weaver stepped down as leader. The website for the GPC leadership race is here. Sonia Furstenau and Kim Darwin are currently the only persons we’re aware of who have declared their candidacy for the position of leader.

Check out Sonia Furstenau’s leadership contest website here. Sonia is hosting her campaign launch in Vancouver on Friday, February 28th. The event will take place at Heritage Hall, 3102 Main St. from 6:00PM-9:00PM. The event will feature speeches from Sonia, David Suzuki and other local leaders who are excited about Sonia’s transformational vision for our province. Join them for drinks, food and mingling with like-minded people. The event is open to all and free to attend. Event updates will be made via the Facebook event here.

Check out Kim Darwin’s leadership contest website here. So far we’re not aware of a launch of Kim’s campaign but if we do become aware of something, it will be posted on NIPR’s Facebook page.

(Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement of either Sonia Furstenau or Kim Darwin by the Greens of North Island-Powell River. We will continue to share information on other leadership candidates as we learn of them.)

BC Greens Convention

Green Party of Canada (GPC) Leadership Race

The Green Party of Canada leadership race is also on. The field continues to expand. This is becoming an interesting and dynamic leadership race. Wikipedia has some interesting information on the race, including names and websites of possible contestants.

EXCITING POSSIBILITY: One or more of the GPC leadership contestants may be at the BC Greens’ convention in Nanaimo in June (see above). Nothing is decided yet, but keep that possibility in mind.

NIPR may be hosting the GPC leadership candidates here in June. This is in the very, very early stages of planning, but the thought right now is to have an event in Campbell River on the evening of Monday, June 29. We would love to have some people help us to make exploratory phone calls to Greens in NIPR to see what the interest level is. Then we’ll need a planning committee to organize the event. NIPR has had a conversation with one of the leadership candidates, and they are hoping to get all of the current four prospects out to the Island in June. Stay tuned for more.

Our Three Green MPs

Check out the websites for Elizabeth May and Paul Manly. Jenica Atwin doesn’t have a website yet, but she does have a Facebook page.

One of the initiatives the NIPR EDA would like to move forward with is having press releases or media statements on issues happening in our riding, in BC, or across Canada. Tim Larsen of Powell River has agreed to help us out with that. Thank you, Tim! The first one was regarding our support for the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs in their fight to stop Coastal GasLink from crossing their territory. Check out our inaugural statement here. 

In case you haven’t seen these, here is a fantastic article in The Narwhal, based on BC Freedom Of Information requests.  And check out Elizabeth May on Power Play this past week, speaking about the claims that Canada is a country of the rule of law, and who is actually breaking the law. 

Another feature to check out is Profiles in Green, where we will showcase individuals or businesses who are leaders in the personal or economic changes needed to ensure a livable future for the next seven generations. If you know of individuals or businesses who would be good to profile here, write to northislandgreens@gmail.com and let us know.

Check out our very first installment: Going Green in Sointula, by Jim MacDougall.

Check out NIPR’s calendar of events. We’re always looking for events happening in our riding that would be of interest to Greens wherever they live. They don’t have to be Green events. As you’ll see from the calendar, many of the events shown there have to do with issues that matter to us as citizens, no matter what our political party of choice is. And many are events being put on my groups whose work we as Greens would support. If you know of events in your community that you think Green supporters might be interested in, please write to the NIPR Greens at northislandgreens@gmail.com and let us know. Please provide as much information as possible, with links to the relevant Facebook or event page.

Greens are defined by a personal responsibility to the community, the quality of decisions we make, and our ability to defend those decisions. We are not responsible for the success or failure of other political entities, and Greens are committed to earning the respect of voters.

Official NIPR email:
northislandgreens@gmail.com

Your NPR Executive:
Megan Ardyche, Comox
Doug Cowell, Courtenay
Elizabeth Crum, Campbell River
Blair Cusack, Courtenay
Mark de Bruijn, Courtenay
Susan Holvenstot, Courtenay
Heather Jones, Port Hardy
Susan Short, Powell River
Carol Thatcher, Courtenay
Chris Tithecott, Campbell River
Jay Van Oostdam, Comox
© 2020 Greens of North Island - Powell River  Approved by the official agent.