Calling northerners and city folk alike to join the Green Party of Manitoba

(unpublished)

Tanisi, Boozhoo, Salut, and Hello,

Are you tired of a democracy that only comes around every four years, when only some people mark ballots, only some of the votes of which are counted? Yes, with our first past the post, winner take all, representative democracy, there is little room for alternative or minority voices to be heard. The Green Party of Manitoba wishes to change this.

A pillar of Green Parties across the world is grassroots participatory democracy, which means building a society where decisions are made locally, by people most affected by the decisions being made. In a Green-led society, for instance, the decisions to divert the Churchill River into the Nelson River and to turn Lake Winnipeg effectively into a reservoir, moves that caused unbearable flooding to traditional Cree lands, would not have been made by government and Hydro executives down in Winnipeg, but by the people of the North, those most immediately affected by the decision.

Greens also believe in strong local economies, economies of scale. So we should produce our energy as close as possible to where it is being used, and decentralize our economies so that many little projects replace the environmentally and economically devastating mega-projects of the 20th century. Greens believe we need to look at policy holistically. Go to the Legislature and you will see that the Ministry of Agriculture is every day making decisions to the detriment of the Clean Water Act, that the department of Industry and Trade is adversely affecting the mandate of Health. There is little coordination, and so we compromise our health and our environment to keep the Minister of Finance happy.

Greens want us to collectively rethink growth economics, and look at other measurements of quality of life. This means looking not only at the quantity of dollars flowing out of various government ministries, but at the quality of life that we enjoy or lack in our society. We are concerned for the broadening gap between rich and poor, by our education and research becoming increasingly corporatized, by the heavy debt load of students, and by the great food insecurity caused by the fact that the average food item travels over 2500 km from source to our plates. In an age of dwindling oil supplies, we are ill-prepared for the boom in fossil fuel prices, not to mention the irreparable climate change we are causing by these practices.

So hopefully this is not depressing to you, or even if it mildly is, why feel helpless? An increasingly larger number of people are waking up to our industrial mistakes, and the Green Party of Manitoba is trying to be a facilitator of change for the benefit of future generations. By getting involved in the Green Party of Manitoba, you can help research policies that will create a better society; you can help educate the larger population about the problems we are facing; you can help out during an election, by going door to door, phoning people, putting up signs, or even running as a candidate.

We are currently seeking our slate of candidates for the upcoming provincial election, which is expected soon, but is at the whim of the ruling party to call. If you or anyone you know are keen to get involved, meet other concerned citizens, create positive change, and spark the changes we need to make for further generations to not be cursing us, then smash apathy and come get involved.

The Green Party of Manitoba seeks an articulate, passionate, and concerned slate of candidates from diverse backgrounds to run as candidates, but also for many of us the Green Party is the first party we have ever joined, so we are all learning together what it takes to help steer our society in the right direction. We are all leaders in the Green Party, or as Marshall McLuhan once said: "There are no passengers on spaceship Earth; we are all crew."

Please check out one set of principles we have adopted, and upon which we base all of our policies, the International Forum on Globalization's Ten Principles for a Sustainable Society, focusing on ecological integrity, real democracy, and social justice. Working together, another Manitoba is possible. You can join committees, or caucuses on northern and aboriginal affairs, ecoliteracy/deep ecology, social justice, or even just be a plain old member and decide later how to get involved.

To get involved, please contact me. Tomorrow cannot wait. Migwich, kinanaskomitinawaw, merci, and thanks for caring enough to have read this far. If the over 40% of people who do not presently vote were to vote Green, we would be living in a very different society...

ALON WEINBERG, Election-Planning Coordinator