This is the second positive article I've seen in Canadian mainstream
press in the past few weeks. They are somewhat ahead of New England,
which is the 'greenest' area in the US. Looks like we really may have
picked a compatible city as our next home.
Steve
-------- Original Message --------
From: fdejong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Fresh, Green Ideas (Excellent article in Ottawa Citizen)
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
Ottawa Citizen_, Wednesday, June 2, 1999 (one day before Ontario
election)
Fresh, Green Ideas
by Randall Denley (regular columnist)
Don't you wish there was a political party that addressed the
things that really matter to people? Instead, elections are the
time when ordinary people have to stop thinking about their
everyday lives so they can spend a few minutes considering what
the politicians say is important.
This time, it's apparently how many tax dollars to spend to
support the government monopoly on health car and education. The
Tories spend grudgingly, the Liberals willingly, and the NDP
gleefully but their goals are similar. Not much to choose from
there.
There might be other things on your mind, such as how you escape
the rat race, the traffic in your neighbourhood, the smog that
aggravates your child's asthma, or dissatisfaction with your
local school.
The parties really have nothing to say about these kinds of
things. They just don't fit into the established political
channels. And yet these real-life concerns go to the central
issue of public life - how do we create communities where we can
lead satisfying lives? Sure, schools and health care are part of
that but none of the traditional parties is asking us how to
provide that service. All three start from the assumption that
education and health are properly government work where key
decisions are best made by people who don't live here.
The only place to find any kind of fresh thinking is the Green
party. It's easy to dismiss the environmental party as NDPers
who've spent a bit too much time with the hydroponic products,
but they're the only ones who are asking the right questions.
We're told that high technology and automation are wonderful
things, for example, but the bottom line of some of our new
technology is that people are being replaced by machines. The
banks have a concerted campaign to drive us all to the Internet
and bank machines by cutting back human services in the branches.
Voice mail has replaced receptionists. They're using automatic
check-ins at the airport. Even the guy you sprays your car at
the car wash has been let go in favour of an automated system.
These changes offer a mixture of convenience and frustration but
the often-ignored bottom line is that there are fewer jobs for
people who lack advanced skills. Can that be good?
The Greens propose a 32-hour work week, opening up more jobs for
the unemployed and putting some time back into the lives of
others. The Greens suggest, and this is the greatest heresy,
that there could be some values in life that transcend the
advertising-driven desire to consume.
They are also the only party to actively criticize the car. Its
downside is well known: pollution, costly roads, traffic deaths,
disruption of residential streets, suburban sprawl - not to
mention the cost of operating a vehicle. We ought to be
consciously constructing communities, where people can walk or
cycle to their destinations. Only the greens see this as an
issue.
On education, the Greens would allow Waldorf and Montessori
schools into the public system, promoting more choice. They
would give more control at the local school level, something akin
to charter schools. Only their party believes parents are
capable of making choices for their children.
As in other areas, they place their greatest reliance on the
individual in the community to make a good decision, not the
bureaucrats at Queen's Park. The Greens are viewed as vaguely
left wing, but this is a profoundly conservative approach.
The Greens also want to conserve our farmland, water, and forests
through proper husbandry. The other parties are blinded by the
opportunity to exploit resources for jobs and taxes.
The Green program is not without its faults. No one seems to
have costed the thing so we don't know what the implication of
taxing bad environmental practices would be or the effect on the
treasury of a shorter work week. Their health care policy
stresses prevention but most of the so-called health care
expenses for any of us come in the few months before death and
are largely unavoidable.
The Greens remind is that the way we live our lives is not truly
sustainable. We're burning down the road of 'progress' leaving a
trail of pollution behind, headed for a crash we know is ahead.
We can waste a lot of time debating when the crash will come but
the Greens urge us to change before it's too late. That's a more
important message than any the government we will elect tomorrow
has to give.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Frank de Jong, leader, Green Party of Ontario
416-929-2397 office, 416-533-6798 home, www.greenparty.on.ca
Green Party address: 244 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ont. M5A 2G2
