Here is the Green Party Statement:
In light of the serious escalation in violence between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza region and what appears to be an intractable political stand-off, the Green Party is calling for an immediate cessation of the violence and for leadership from "The Quartet" (U.S. Russia, E.U. , U.N.) to begin negotiations with all parties to establish a comprehensive stabilization plan and buffer zone around Gaza.
Already 1,400 people have been injured and 375 killed in Gaza and 5 in Israel by Israeli air-strikes and Hamas rockets and emergency services in Gaza are overwhelmed by the continuing violence. Children are especially vulnerable to the psychological terror of repeated air-strikes and rocket attacks. A recent Queen's University study has identified the children of Gaza - which comprise almost half the population of the territory - as heavily impacted psychologically by war trauma.
Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May commented, "It is time for political leaders in the region and from influential nations outside the region, to seriously collaborate in ending a tragedy that is a lose/lose proposition for everyone regardless of any perceived short-term gains.
Stage One of a Gaza Area Stabilization Plan would include:
1) An immediate end to all hostilities and the establishment of a sustainable cease-fire arrangement.
2) The deployment of U.N. Peace-Making forces within a Neutral Buffer Zone who assume the responsibility for ending missile attacks on Israel using a combination of political, policing and technical means and methods.
3) The establishment of a Green Economic Development Area and Agricultural/Water Research Institute at the Egyptian/Gaza border which would be developed in collaboration with the Egyptian government - initial stage would be on Egyptian side - and with long-term financial and technical support from the international community.
4) Increased support for primary and secondary education infrastructure and resources as well as significantly enhanced medical and psychological treatment capacity.
5) Re-open border crossing points under U.N. oversight to allow continuous access of humanitarian supplies into Gaza.
Green Party of Canada International Affairs Critic Eric Walton added "because of the intense and chronic nature of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict it is likely that a sustainable peace process will require a multi-track approach that simultaneously addresses state security, economic development, environmental protection and human security concerns."
The Green Party is trying to work around a practical solution while ignoring the issues of assigning blame, which could bog down the process. Economic sustainability is a must for securing any type of long term future for those who live in Gaza. While in theory the plan sounds nice it glosses over the most critical points.
Israel has attacked Hamas in response to constantly being under rocket fire. Even Egypt is demanding that Hamas stop the attacks. Hamas is on their own course and have no interest in what is best for the people they claim to represent. Is there any way to bring a sustainable ceasefire without a complete surrender by Hamas?
Israel has asked for international monitors for a ceasefire, instead of peace keepers. Israel wants the whole world to recognize that they are in compliance with whatever ceasefire arrangement that is made. They also want confirmation of any violations on the Palestinian side.
Peace keepers are not equipped to handle a situation where one size chooses to go to battle. In 1967 Egypt ordered them to leave and they did. UNIFIL patrolling Southern Lebanon did nothing to prevent war in 2006. Peace Keepers do not engage in battle. If Hamas or another terrorist group started firing rockets again they would be powerless to do anything.
As things stand now the end game is to oust Hamas from Gaza and allow the Fatah lead Palestinian Authority to retake control of Gaza. It will then be back to the drawing board as both sides consider what concessions they are willing to make in order to sustain a long lasting cease fire.
Showing posts with label Green Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Party. Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Monday, October 13, 2008
Green Party Thrown Under the Bus
Despite claims that she wouldn't, Elizabath has suggested that in some ridings voters should vote Liberal or NDP to block a Conservative win. In other words she is calling on her supporters to vote for Stephane Dion as Prime Minister irrelevant of the effects it has on her party. It is important for voters to consider the message sent through their ballot, even if their candidate does not win. It is another for a party leader to abandon her party on the eve of the election. She has done a tremendous disservice on many levels.
Candidates are entitled to be reimbursed for some of their campaign expenses if they capture a certain percentage of the vote. Some Green candidates could take a personal financial loss from this declaration. Also all parties that capture 3% of the popular vote are entitled to $1.95/year per vote of federal funding. The Green Party has benefited from this rule in the last federal election. Strategic voting will hurt the Green Party financially.
Each party has their own distinct environment policy. A blanket Liberal endorsement sends the message from Green supporters is that there number 1 priority is to get a carbon tax. The fact that the Liberals and Greens have very different ways of spending the extra government revenue does not matter.
The Green Party has always had the problem that their polling numbers on election day are about half of what they receive before the election. It has been understood that these results show that Canadians like to say they care about the environment. When push comes to shove Canadians have more important issues at heart like the economy. A dip in Green Party support will once again reinforce this message. In 4 years from now parties will decide how important the environment is for their election platforms. Once again all the parties (including the Liberals) will put it lower on the agenda because while important it does not win votes. Elizabeth May has managed to not only undercut her own party but the entire environmental movement she claims to support.
Candidates are entitled to be reimbursed for some of their campaign expenses if they capture a certain percentage of the vote. Some Green candidates could take a personal financial loss from this declaration. Also all parties that capture 3% of the popular vote are entitled to $1.95/year per vote of federal funding. The Green Party has benefited from this rule in the last federal election. Strategic voting will hurt the Green Party financially.
Each party has their own distinct environment policy. A blanket Liberal endorsement sends the message from Green supporters is that there number 1 priority is to get a carbon tax. The fact that the Liberals and Greens have very different ways of spending the extra government revenue does not matter.
The Green Party has always had the problem that their polling numbers on election day are about half of what they receive before the election. It has been understood that these results show that Canadians like to say they care about the environment. When push comes to shove Canadians have more important issues at heart like the economy. A dip in Green Party support will once again reinforce this message. In 4 years from now parties will decide how important the environment is for their election platforms. Once again all the parties (including the Liberals) will put it lower on the agenda because while important it does not win votes. Elizabeth May has managed to not only undercut her own party but the entire environmental movement she claims to support.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Green Party to Join Debate
With some public outcry the Green Party has now been invited to join the leaders debate. The Green Party will now have an oppurtuity to show they should be taken seriously. It will be interesting to see how people react to the Green Party platform.
Until now a lot of their support has come from people who just want to the government to pay more attention to the enviornment. The Green Party has built an accross the board complete party platform. This may surprise some people. It may also surprise people that they have 'right wing' economic policies. Will educating the public help or hurt the Green Party? Either way after the debate the Green Party will not be considered the unpredicatable wild card that was the case at the beginning of the election.
This is the Green Party's one shot at the spot lighit. If they win a seat the will prove they are a legitimate 5th Party in Canada. If they fail they once again fall to the realm of irrelevant protest vote.
Until now a lot of their support has come from people who just want to the government to pay more attention to the enviornment. The Green Party has built an accross the board complete party platform. This may surprise some people. It may also surprise people that they have 'right wing' economic policies. Will educating the public help or hurt the Green Party? Either way after the debate the Green Party will not be considered the unpredicatable wild card that was the case at the beginning of the election.
This is the Green Party's one shot at the spot lighit. If they win a seat the will prove they are a legitimate 5th Party in Canada. If they fail they once again fall to the realm of irrelevant protest vote.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Green Party Shafted from Debates
Once again the Green Party will not be allowed to participate in the leadership debate. The consortium of networks announced that 3 parties were in opposition to their participation. Jack Layton threatened to not attend the debate if Elizabeth May was there. It is believed that Harper made the same threat. Jack Layton has sited the Liberal/Green Party alliance and her declaration that Dion should be Prime Minister as reason to oppose their participation.
The biggest winner from the exclusion of Elizabeth May is Stephane Dion. He already has a tough job ahead with the new carbon tax as the centre plank of his election campaign. The Green Party would also like to introduce a carbon tax. The big difference between the two plans is the Green Party wants to shift into immediate tax cuts. The Liberals have a complicated formula to reimburse those hit by the carbon tax. The Green Shift also includes returning the money to Canadians through tax cuts and social initiatives. As the Liberals have recently admitted that the Green Shift is a statement of principles, Canadians will know what is being taxed without a guarantee of who will benefit from the revenue increase.
It is hard to believe that the networks fell for the threat of a debate boycott. Any party refusing to attend the debate would face a great deal of scrutiny from the public. It would be unwise to follow through with the threat. The networks need to set clear guidelines for deciding who is eligible to participate in the debates. A seat in parliament with candidates in a minimum number of ridings would be a reasonable place to start. There are enough barriers to entry for starting a new political party. The existing parties should not be able to put up more at their own discretion simply because they can.
The biggest winner from the exclusion of Elizabeth May is Stephane Dion. He already has a tough job ahead with the new carbon tax as the centre plank of his election campaign. The Green Party would also like to introduce a carbon tax. The big difference between the two plans is the Green Party wants to shift into immediate tax cuts. The Liberals have a complicated formula to reimburse those hit by the carbon tax. The Green Shift also includes returning the money to Canadians through tax cuts and social initiatives. As the Liberals have recently admitted that the Green Shift is a statement of principles, Canadians will know what is being taxed without a guarantee of who will benefit from the revenue increase.
It is hard to believe that the networks fell for the threat of a debate boycott. Any party refusing to attend the debate would face a great deal of scrutiny from the public. It would be unwise to follow through with the threat. The networks need to set clear guidelines for deciding who is eligible to participate in the debates. A seat in parliament with candidates in a minimum number of ridings would be a reasonable place to start. There are enough barriers to entry for starting a new political party. The existing parties should not be able to put up more at their own discretion simply because they can.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Green Party bids to be taken seriously
The only way for a political party to be taken seriously is to have a voice in Parliament. In a desperate attempt to be taken seriously Elizabeth May entered into a truce with Stephane Dion not to run a Liberal MP in her riding of Central Nova against Peter McKay. With the Liberals making their Green Shift a central plank in a pending election, the alliance could further handicap the Green Party from getting into Parliament.
The Green Party has introduced Blair Wilson as their first ever MP. He has a shaking history as he has been sitting as an independant after being forced to leave the Liberal party. His previous election results have been close, meaning it will be a tough ride for the Green Party to keep the seat.
The timing couldn't be better. The Green Party now has a legitimate claim to finally be included in the Leadership debate. Hopefully the media outlets will not try to change the rules to keep them out. Kudos to Elizabeth May. She has finally positioned her party to be taken seriously, in time for an election.
The Green Party has introduced Blair Wilson as their first ever MP. He has a shaking history as he has been sitting as an independant after being forced to leave the Liberal party. His previous election results have been close, meaning it will be a tough ride for the Green Party to keep the seat.
The timing couldn't be better. The Green Party now has a legitimate claim to finally be included in the Leadership debate. Hopefully the media outlets will not try to change the rules to keep them out. Kudos to Elizabeth May. She has finally positioned her party to be taken seriously, in time for an election.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Liberals won't run agianst Peter McKay
On Friday the announcement was made that the Liberal Party of Canada will not field a candidate of in the riding of Central Nova, to make room for Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. The ridding is currently held by Conservative Foreign Affairs Minister Peter McKay. In exchange the Green Party will not field a candidate in Liberal Leader Stephan Dion's riding. This also creates a de facto endorsement from the Green Party that they believe Stephan Dion is the best candidate for Prime Minister.
The spin on this story is fairly simple. The environment has emerged in the past year as a very important issue to Canadians. Dion has wrapped himself in the flag as the champion for the environment. An endorsement from the Green Party (who Canadians feel is the true champion of the environment), locks up his credibility to this claim. He is willing to sacrifice the best interests of his party for what is best for Canada. Dion also gets the added protection from a non-existent threat of the Green Party costing him his seat. The Green Party has been climbing in the polls mainly squeezing out support from the NDP. An endorsement from the Liberals that they deserve a voice in the House of Commons gives the legitimacy. This could help further erode support for the NDP, enough for the Liberals to pick up a couple of seats from the split votes.
In November, May finished second behind the Liberal in the by-election for the riding of London North Centre. May was asked why she choose to try to take down one of the highest ranking members of the Conservative Party. This is contrary to the long standing Canadian tradition of party leaders running in safe ridings. May responded that McKay has been singled out because of the governments foreign policy. Did you know that the Green Party had a foreign policy? They want to cut the defence budget by 50%, withdraw from Afghanistan and be a full supporter of all U.N. resolutions. They were also very critical of the governments support for Israel during last year's war in Lebanon. In the last election McKay beat out the 2nd place NDP candidate by 3273 votes. The Green Party candidate managed to beat out the last place Marxist Leninist by only 547 votes. Combining all of the Liberal and Green Party votes from last election would still leave them in 3rd place 2841 votes behind the NDP. May has absolutely no chance of winning this seat. Her decision to try to take down McKay will destroy any opportunity for advancement of her party that this deal could have brought.
It would seem that the Liberals traded an unwinnable ridding for some political clout. There are those out there that feel that this is evidence of a true leader who can put his own personal agenda aside for the good of the nation. Dion has conceded that any environmental policy the Liberal Party puts forward cannot not be as good as that of the Green Party. How is he going to explain to voters? He is going to ask voters to vote for the party that in his opinion has the second best environmental policy. You just can't do that with your number one priority. Taking it one step further in the unlikely event of May winning and Dion becoming the Prime Minister, he would have no choice but to maker her Environment Minister. Would he be as willing to strip her of her post for disagreeing with other Liberal policies as Dion has done to other members of the Liberal Party.
This deal is political suicide for Dion. Once again he has been outsmarted for political points. It is too bad that May has bitten off more than she can chew. She has missed a tremendous oppurtunity to make a political breakthrough for her party.
The spin on this story is fairly simple. The environment has emerged in the past year as a very important issue to Canadians. Dion has wrapped himself in the flag as the champion for the environment. An endorsement from the Green Party (who Canadians feel is the true champion of the environment), locks up his credibility to this claim. He is willing to sacrifice the best interests of his party for what is best for Canada. Dion also gets the added protection from a non-existent threat of the Green Party costing him his seat. The Green Party has been climbing in the polls mainly squeezing out support from the NDP. An endorsement from the Liberals that they deserve a voice in the House of Commons gives the legitimacy. This could help further erode support for the NDP, enough for the Liberals to pick up a couple of seats from the split votes.
In November, May finished second behind the Liberal in the by-election for the riding of London North Centre. May was asked why she choose to try to take down one of the highest ranking members of the Conservative Party. This is contrary to the long standing Canadian tradition of party leaders running in safe ridings. May responded that McKay has been singled out because of the governments foreign policy. Did you know that the Green Party had a foreign policy? They want to cut the defence budget by 50%, withdraw from Afghanistan and be a full supporter of all U.N. resolutions. They were also very critical of the governments support for Israel during last year's war in Lebanon. In the last election McKay beat out the 2nd place NDP candidate by 3273 votes. The Green Party candidate managed to beat out the last place Marxist Leninist by only 547 votes. Combining all of the Liberal and Green Party votes from last election would still leave them in 3rd place 2841 votes behind the NDP. May has absolutely no chance of winning this seat. Her decision to try to take down McKay will destroy any opportunity for advancement of her party that this deal could have brought.
It would seem that the Liberals traded an unwinnable ridding for some political clout. There are those out there that feel that this is evidence of a true leader who can put his own personal agenda aside for the good of the nation. Dion has conceded that any environmental policy the Liberal Party puts forward cannot not be as good as that of the Green Party. How is he going to explain to voters? He is going to ask voters to vote for the party that in his opinion has the second best environmental policy. You just can't do that with your number one priority. Taking it one step further in the unlikely event of May winning and Dion becoming the Prime Minister, he would have no choice but to maker her Environment Minister. Would he be as willing to strip her of her post for disagreeing with other Liberal policies as Dion has done to other members of the Liberal Party.
This deal is political suicide for Dion. Once again he has been outsmarted for political points. It is too bad that May has bitten off more than she can chew. She has missed a tremendous oppurtunity to make a political breakthrough for her party.
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