PROMISE KEPT

i'm surprised. this morning, i awoke early without hesitation to fulfill my promise to you out there and myself that i'd go and get involved with the green party.

immediately upon arrival at pape subway station on the danforht line, 8am, i was greeted by an eager young campaign assistant who was excited to hear that i came all the way from eglinton-lawrence to see jim harris in action. right away, i was called upon to pass out the latest leaflet from the green party of canada, and i gladly obliged.

news cameras caught me and jim discussing his radio spot yesterday in kitchener-waterloo, and while he was more than sportsmanlike about 570news' atrocious media conduct, he agreed quite sincerely with my criticism of the broadcast. CPAC had the opportunity to hear the words of another young green enthusiast named rob:

"i don't call it democracy," he said, referring to the current state of canadian politics, "right now i call it 'demockery'!" he exclaimed to a bemused jim harris, who says he'll have to use that in the future.

i met a colleague of jim's named paul charbonneau, a member of the toronto-danforth electoral district association and green party candidate in scarborough-guildwood (although he lives in danforth). he's been in the community for a long time and claims to be friends with both jack layton and dennis mills...he's courageous for admitting those things!

he noticed me taking photos and asked if i'd be willing to help out with more photography, perhaps some for for the website.

would i?

you see, it's that easy, provided you have candidates who can promote at street level and don't have to wade through an army of reporters and campaign entourage to share points of view with the voting public. i was really struck by their willingness to converse with people openly and without the benefit of PR walls.

i agree with rob about the state of "demockery", but we can still count on people to explore these small venues of access that can take us in different directions.

a message to all politicians: what are you afraid of? no more baby kissing, non-committal hand shakes and nodding along. start engaging in public dialogue with your people, then maybe we'll start to get involved. wouldn't it make for a more active society if we gave you more than just a vote, but our time as well?

we want to see that you're willing to put in the time for us first.

WE NEED NEW POLICY

i heard jim harris, leader of the federal green party, today on 570 news, a kitchener-waterloo radio station owned by rogers communications (i tuned in online of course from my shady toronto enclave). i can't remember the name of show, but it's supposedly a news/talk gig with "glenn and gary: two guys on the radio". it was somethin' else, let me tell ya.

the lead in was laughable:

"hey glenn or [gary, i can't remember which one of this rosencrantz and guildenstern pair was which] i just read that this guy jim harris is a management consultant and co-author of '100 best businesses to work for in canada'. i mean, wow, this definitely changes the stereotype in my mind that i had about the green party."

"ya, i thought they were all make-your-own-granola sunflower dress wearin types yknow?"

"no, i mean these guys are not the natural law party or the rhinocerous party! we're dealin with a serious bunch here!"

well, shit, i mean, really? they're serious?

c'mon, wake up already! you're a news man, yet you have no idea what's going in the world beyond your happy whacky studio environment.

the greens in germany are part of a coalition government that runs the country with the SDP. ralph nader ran in the 2000 US elections as green party candidate with a national support base. in canada, the party represents about 800,000 people's voting preference, as recently stated by the latest ipsos-reid poll.

where have you been, glenn and gary, while all this has been going on?

they gave him 6 minutes on the phone, called him "jimmy" and went through a series of questions that barely skimmed the surface. no questions about his platform (only one about his disapproval of the expansion of a highway in the area, met with stern cynicism and condecension in the hosts' tone of voice). no questions about the values of the green party and what they represent in current politics. gems like this one, however, stood out:

"so jimmy, you're business consultant. how come you're not a liberal or a conservative?"

tops to jim, however, for pushing as much as he could. his answer?

"i used to be a member of the PC party until i realized that a species goes extinct every 25 minutes around the world. i used to think that reduction of government debt was the main issue. but that can be corrected by help from economists. the debt we owe the earth, however, requires a huige change." he also made note that while 6% of national support seems little in compariosn to the 30odd% the liberals and conservatives have, the NDP elected 9 MPs in 1993 with 9% or popular approval.

the weather and traffic were reported twice, before and after the interview, and there was no followup discussion. jim harris, in probably one of his few opportunities to appear on a mainstream news outlet, was pushed aside...to make room for what? the latest information on gridlock? traffic accidents?

(maybe at this point we should all direct our attention towards the party's policy on this matter regarding walkable communities, rail rescue and public transit.)

i'm so sick of this marginalization of a major national party. one of the reasons i'm voting for them has to do with their proposed limitations on broadcast ownership. maybe then we don't have to cringe whenever we turn on the radio. stations like 570 news, owned by rogers communications, are so prevalent within this country that there's no proper recourse to provide adequate counter coverage. programming is all mandated from a head office and timed and scripted without care for the issues. it's like handling a baby with a machine.

it's time we start investing in the quality and conviction of community-based media and oust clown-puppets like gelnn and gary from the control rooms of this nation.

i'd like to see what jim harris has to say about today's interview. i'm going to go see him tomorrow as he greets subway riders at pape station on the danforth line. it'll be an early rise for me, but hey, i spent the last 8 months getting used to losing sleep over the media.

THE NEW WAVE

today he's made a decision: no more talk without participation. no more opinions without experience. guy stevos is going to join the green party.

he's filled out the online application form for SHEL GOLDSTEIN'S campaign in the toronto riding of eglinton-lawrence. while he anxiously awaits a phone call, he imagines what it'd be like donning the nametag gallantly walking the streets campaiging for political reform. he'll move out of this riding only three days after the election, but he figures he might do one last (and first) thing for this part of town.

it's not gonna be an easy victory, that is if there is one at all. despite the amount of goldstein signs already present in his neighbourhood, he knows that they represent only a small slice of the pie. if all this "silent majority" crap is true, he's bracing himself for a real let down.

but hey, things are changing! the globe and the star have all given the greens a chance. they're making a bit of a fuss about leader jim harris being excluded from the global television debates.

which brings him to his next point. guy stevos would like to remind the execs at can-west, that damned asper family who promoted the status quo to his high school graduating class at convocation, that the green party is a major national party whose issues are by no means from the fringe. upon examination of their platform, anyone can tell you that their ideals are borne not out of lofty ambitions but mainstream goals.

"well, we'll see how they do this year at the polls and then we'll give 'em a chance." good god! the party now fields candidates in all ridings. they expect over 1 million votes and four seats. so why not let them speak to the public? why not let them expose this trash system for what it is? why not let them confront these issues head on? lord knows they can't do that in parliament at the moment. you're not oging to lose ratings by having the green party up there with paulbearer martin and step-on harper. if anything, you'll arouse some curiosity. voters are bored with the same old faces, same old problems.

guy stevos thinks it's possible to get a green presence in the house this election. he pleads to the rest of you disillusioned youth to not only go to the polls with a green mind, but to assist this party with the sweat of your brow...if it's your bag, of course.

GO GREEN. we're lookin at a new wave of politics.

AFTER THE GOLDRUSH

there's been a goldrush. somewhere up in god's country, a pristine place they call untouched nature (never mind it's been touched enough to have gold extracted from its depths). it's a frontier they say, it's a new land we're gonna build on, and we're only just getting started. and you can go up there and propel yourself to new heights. just get your things together and find the right spot and the world is yours.

but you get there, and there's no gold, at least no gold you can get a hold of yourself. if you want any part in it whatsoever, you've got to work for someone else, someone in a much more powerful position than yourself who's been there from early on. you'd be lucky if you get to share the slightest morsel of that gold, even though you've worked so damn hard and given up everything for the promise. but it's all been established.

you've come a long way just to figure that out, and as you see yourself diggin holes in the ground for someone else, you wish that it never had to be like this, that you and everyone else never had to be so enthralled by the idea of gold in the first place.