The Green Party of Canada is appalled by the Harper government's decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. "It is extremely shocking that Canada has chosen to withdraw just days after the conclusion of the Durban negotiations," said Green Leader Elizabeth May, who was in Durban for COP17. "It is simply outrageous disinformation that there is a $14 billion cost to staying in Kyoto. Staying in the Kyoto Protocol will not cost us a cent. What will cost billions is if we do nothing to address climate change."

Dear Green Supporter

I thought you would get inspired by this story that Johan Hamels, Executive Director, Green Party of Canada relayed to me. 

“You must be proud to be working for democracy,” the taxi driver said to Karen, one of our staff members, who had just spent 15 hours in Green Party headquarters and was exhausted and—truthfully—feeling a little sorry for herself, as she told me when she shared the story this morning.

Dropping my daughter off at daycare yesterday I heard a news story about efforts by Elections Canada to mobilize the ‘youth vote’, that politically elusive 18-25 group. For good reason, every major political party is salivating over the prospect of biting into this demographic. But Elections Canada seems to think that the problem of getting them out to vote is a merely technical one, something that can be solved by allowing for on-line voting, for instance.

Campaign Kick-Off

A great crowd turned out to kickoff Byron's campaign as Green Party Kitchener-Centre candidate for the 2011 general federal election. 

Byron gave a great talk on the vision of the Green Party, how we have an obligation to take into account future generations and not just plan for today, that all issues are environmental issues.  We should not accept the status quo and choose between the lesser of two evils, that it is time to vote Green.

So far, this campaign has been dominated by the twin demons of fear and control. The problem with succumbing to these demons, which it looks like we are in the process of doing, is that they stifle political and social creativity. Here are three examples from the current campaign.

Byron Williston will presented the arguments made by the oil and gas industry, and their supporters, in favour of expansion of the tar sands and why those arguments fail. The unconstrained development and expansion of the tar sands is, in fact, morally unjustifiable.The conclusion? We should see ourselves as duty-bound to take a much more cautious approach to the management of this resource than is currently the case.Byron Williston is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Wilfrid Laurier University and he is the Green Party Candidate for Kitchener Centre.

The Old Boys’ Club is at it again. Elizabeth May has been denied entry into the televised leaders’ debates.

Since the decision all major party leader's have either said they would like her in the debate or are not against the idea.

What kind of democracy excludes a party with the support of one million of its citizens? What kind of democracy allows a handful of TV executives to decide that a party that only runs candidates in one province has more right to be in a national leaders’ debate than a party with candidates in every riding?

In the last election, your voices won Elizabeth her rightful place in the debates. We can’t believe that we have to ask you to rally on her behalf yet again. But we do.

1. Visit http://demanddemocraticdebates.ca to sign our petition, donate, and more!
2. Vote in CBC’s poll on whether Elizabeth should be invited to the leaders’ debates
3. Sign the Petition at demanddemocraticdebates.ca (which is endorsed by the Green Party of Canada).
4. Email the consortium members CBC, CTV, Global, TVA and Radio Canada.
1. CTV: programming@ctv.ca
2. CBC: ombudsman@cbc.ca
3. Global TV: viewercontact.globalnational@globaltv.com
4. TVA: info@tva.ca
5. Radio Canada: ombudsman@radio-canada.ca
5. Send emails to:
1. Stephen Harper pm@pm.gc.ca,
2. Jack Layton Layton.J@parl.gc.ca,
3. Michael Ignatieff Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca and
4. Gilles Duceppe Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca

Tell them to press the networks to include Elizabeth May.

6. Visit the Facebook pages of the party leaders, and write on their walls that you want them to demand Elizabeth May be in the debates.
7. Tweet your outrage! Use the hashtag #EMayIn.
8. Post about this on Facebook.
9. Tell your friends and family!