We got 11% of the votes in Victoria! This is great and is due to all of you standing up to the fear-mongering of Strategic Voting. I’m sure if Victorians were to vote in a climate free from the fear of a Conservative Majority, we would have done even better.
It is with this in mind that I have put my hat in the ring for Mayor of Victoria. I have been very busy and have created a website: www.SteveFilipovic.ca for my campaign. Please check it out and give me some feedback. I’m on Facebook as well and have a group site there called Steve Filipovic for Mayor of Victoria, BC.
Also, I have attended my first debate for this campaign and I did very well. I had people come up and compliment me on my vision for Victoria and in the way I handled the issues. Of course I was just offering common sense Green solutions to today’s problems.
Homelessness was on the minds of most of the people and I clearly had the best answers for their questions. I’d promote cooperatives, rent-to-own social housing to help people build equity, and actually doing the work to create low-cost housing for those who need homes. The costs of policing and health care due to weather exposure is estimated at between $30K and $50K per homeless person per year, whereas actually providing housing units would cost approximately $12K per year. And people would be able to get off the street. I also supported the tent city. Giving homeless people the right to protect themselves against the elements is just common sense and a great short term solution. In the longer term we need to get more dwelling units made.
Privatization came up as well and I stood out as the only one against it. A bus driver at the debate told me we pay $193 an hour per bus (6-8 buses) for a private service on the Malahat route which runs down from Cowichan valley in the morning then sits idle all day returning up island at the end of the day. We pay only $88 per hour of bus service to our public transit service; can you tell me why the Public-Private Partnership (P3’s) should get more than twice the funding as our own public transport? We must stand up to P3’s and help our public infrastructure to get the money it needs to stay vibrant.
I need your help to make this happen so pitch in and start networking with your friends and family. If you have any questions please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you!
Steve Filipovic
250 216 5903
www.SteveFilipovic.ca
Canada. I am so happy and so fortunate to be living in Canada, I voted today and I feel great! This democracy is a precious jewel shining full of hope for the future of all countries. We are a multicultural society, together, a mosaic. We are held together in large integrated and peaceful communities by a high standard for human rights. The “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” is our guarantee to live in a free and democratic society.
I have a copy pasted onto the back of my clipboard that I use for canvassing. I have used it to inspire me through several campaigns and I am very pleased with how we are growing and by what we are accomplishing as Greens. There isn’t a party out there not claiming to be us! Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. And for this we can thank our own efforts of sharing our values with our communities. Our commonsense approach of measuring issues with our values has produced many wonderful ideas that everybody is noticing.
Let’s all thank Adam Saab and his wonderful volunteers! They have run an exciting Federal campaign and no matter what the results are, we all appreciate their hard work and their sacrifice. We did great at the debates, we organized a mail-out and a call-out, we had newspaper ads, Facebook ads and Facebook groups. We had a great sign campaign, with plenty of signs on residences’ lawns and apartment windows, and we had you, talking to your friends and family. And of course, let’s not forget we had Elizabeth May!
Three Cheers for being Green! Hip hip Hurray! Hip hip Hurray! Hip hip Hurray!
Did you watch the Leaders Debate? With having put some much time in getting our Leader there, we were so excited and had built up some pretty high expectations. I am so happy to report that she has delivered.
Most Canadians opinion of the Green Party has risen dramatically, they now know that we have a wide range of policies and that we are not afraid to tackle any of the challenges that face Canada today.
Three cheers for Elizabeth May! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
It is now that she is focused on winning her riding, a long held Conservative stronghold. Peter Makay is the incumbent and is the Minister of Defense many people thought he was untouchable, but May has been able to reveal some weak spots in his armour. Like Conservative policy on environment, they still believe or rather try to spin the natural causes of Global Climate Change. The people of New Brunswick know this is not the case and are starting to look at new choices and new Leadership for their riding. Elizabeth May is who they are turning to. She has a great shot at becoming our first elected Green Member of Parliament!
Here in Victoria Green Candidate Adam Saab is running a fine campaign. The word is getting out and the response at the door and on the street is always very uplifting. It is plain to see that the people of Victoria like what the greens have to offer. The question is are they willing to stand up for it. To demand some positive changes that will help ease the burden off future generations?
In this election the choice is clear. The Conservatives are in denial about Climate Change. The Liberals, who signed us into Kyoto, spent $3.7 Billion dollars and got no reductions, are saying they will try harder this time. The New Democratic Party is campaigning for cheaper gas, a gimmick that will surely win them votes but clearly shows that they have no real desire to face Climate Change. And then there is the Greens who have been championing this issue for 25 years. Can you imaging how much better off we would be if we had elected a Green government 25 years ago?
The Greens are the party with best understanding of Climate Change, we also have the most democratic style of behaving and are the only party who are fully committed to open accountable government.
Join in with the Green Party Campaign!
I want to thank Elizabeth May for being so diligent and articulate. It is due to her unyielding persistence that we are able to voice our values on the Leaders’ Debate this week. I also want to thank the people of Canada who loudly protested the very undemocratic kybosh, organized by Harper and Layton. So tune in to the Leaders Debate, French with translations on Wednesday the first and in English on Thursday evening. It should be on a couple of channels CBC Newsworld and CPAC !
Better yet, have a party and invite all your friends over to watch the Leaders’ Debate. I have been involved in plenty of elections and I tell you the level of involvement in this election is pretty low, across the board. I am hoping that after the leaders’ debate there will be a resurgence of involvement.
Voting for your party is really the least you can do. There is a huge range of activities you can do to help your political stripes widen. We have a small group of dedicated volunteers and we are doing our best to get our message out. The Greens will not out-spend any other party but we could out-volunteer them. After all, it is better to hear about our hopes for the future from your neighbour rather than the television.
Besides volunteering you could donate! When averaging out our donations over our voters we find that we receive 40 cents per voter. There it is, the 40 cent challenge. If you can help us raise this figure we would greatly appreciate it. Remember you get 75% of the first $400 you donate back in the form of a tax break. That means you could give us $400 dollars of clout for an actual outlay of $100. A $50 donation costs you only $12.75.
In the last provincial election I ran in Hillside Victoria for the Green Party. I spent $3000 and got 12% of the vote. The Liberal incumbent, Sheila Orr, spent $170,000 and got 25%. Imagine how I may have done if I had $40,000 to spend sharing our values? Some people still think we are a one issue party, we are not. For many years we have had the most comprehensive platform, which is created in the most democratic manner. Go to http://www.greenparty.ca/ and read our Green Vision document or the reduced brief if you have little time. After you see it is a great direction for our collective future you can make some time to help it have a chance to be.
We are in the midst of a Federal Election and we are doing great! A new Angus Reid pole released Monday says “In British Columbia, the Greens have surged to 26 per cent, ten points behind the leading Tories and two points ahead of the NDP. The Greens also surpassed the 10-point threshold in the Prairies and Ontario.” With Elizabeth May in the Leaders debate we are poised for some much deserved success in this election. There are some things you can do to help.
Donate money to the local campaign. You get 75% of the first $400 deductible from your taxes. This gives our cause $400 worth of support for $100 bucks. Do it. We have a future to build.
Next dare your self to blog somewhere, let others know how you became interested in the Greens and why you don’t vote for the others. This is an exceptional opportunity to show everyone that we are gaining votes from all directions; maybe we can unite Canada on its favourite second choice. Get on the internet and blog up our side of the story. We have the world to win.
Invite your friends, family, and neighbours to find out about the Green Party and to join in our drive to elect Green MPs in Canada. If you find that they have questions you can’t answer let them know you will get back to them and then bring these questions forward. We have the answers that make the most sense; long term and sustainable.
Volunteer your time. We have an office at 959 Fort Street and we have a lot of work to do.
It is the kind of work that makes you feel great! Come on down and meet up with your Green friends.
If you have any questions email or phone me 250 216 5903
I will have to admit that it is really hard being Green. After years of being denied entrance to the televised Leaders Debate because we didn’t meet the criteria of having a MP, it perplexes me now as we now have an MP, and so have met the same criteria as Gilles Duceppe whom after having an MP cross over from the Progresive Conservatives to the Bloc Quebec was allowed to be in the debate; yet we are not!
So without a principle to stand on Harper, Layton, and Duceppe all piss on Democracy. The boycotting of Elizabeth May is a very dark mark in our history. They are all paying the price for it.
The Wall of Shame for Jack ..http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-Layton/6330284938 … and check out the discussion topic:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-Layton/6330284938#/topic.php?uid=6330284938&topic=5304
I can only imagine that the other parties are feeling the same pressure from their members and from all the other Canadian citizens who feel betrayed by this blatent perversion of our democracy.
I urge anyone and every one who has an opinion about this to share it out with the larger community. We must keep this issue on the forefront of everybodys mind until we win and have Elizabeth May in the Leaders Debate. Elizabeth May has a briliant way with words and this whole planet would greatly benifit from her being embraced by all Canadians. The best way to help this happen is to get her in the Leaders Debate.
There is a Federal Election a foot! Elizabeth May has been very busy raising the profile of the greens across Canada. Lately she announced that we have our first Green MP Blair Wilson of sunshine coast: and so should be invited to participate in the Leaders Debate. Let’s email our brains out to ensure this happens. It is not a sure thing; the old boys networks have their mysterious ways of changing the parameters around, so we should all sound off about this one. Write to any and all broadcasting places and let them know that you like 85% of all Canadians believe Elizabeth May should be a participant in the Leaders Debate.
In the now cancelled By-Elections Mike Naggy was poised to bring in a solid second finish in the Guelph riding. His Team now has 35 more days to Show the people of Guelph Ontario that going Green is very good for you. Hundreds of other green campaigns are now starting up all over the country. Our hope of getting greens elected is closer than ever before. This is a great opportunity for us greens to influence the debate and to encourage every citizen to learn green eat green breathe green and vote Green!
There has never been a better time to join in your local campaign. Our membership has grown substantially in the past few years. More and more people from all the other parties are getting on board the Green train. All the other parties have stolen from our platform. The Liberals are doing the Carbon Taxing, which was ours first. Good for them! I honestly think they cannot be trusted to actually implement any real changes anyway, but we can always hope. I would rather place my hope in the idea of uniting Canada on everybody’s second choice (our first choice of course) the Green Party.
We are promoting a philosophy of care for this planet, help us share this message.
This is the opportunity for greens to make their difference, so let’s get in with the Federal Campaign and strive to deliver the most Green votes ever.
And Happy Birthday BC! I have a great love for BC and particularly the island I live on. We truly live in the most amazing pocket of this planet! I offer an opportunity on the cusp of this great celebration of our province to show our devotion to this region we all love so much by registering municipal green parties in as many of our electoral regions as possible. Having “Your Region Greens” beside your candidates name will be a huge assistance.
Are you up to this challenge of joining in the Gung Ho Campaign to register a Municipal Green Party in your area! Gung Ho translates into work together and that is exactly what we do best, so get some of your local Greens together and form a political organization to operate at the municipal level in your community. It is as easy as signing up 50 members who all must be eligible to vote in the next municipal election.
The Local Government Act spells the requirement out as follows:
79 (1) In order for an organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated, to have its endorsement of a candidate included on a ballot, the organization must
(a) have been in existence for at least 60 days immediately before the solemn declaration under subsection (3) is made, and
(b) have had throughout the period referred to in paragraph (a) a membership of at least 50 electors of the municipality or regional district for which the election is being held.
Deadline to Sign Up 50 Members – August 11, 2008
You need 50 electors to join your elector organization at least 60 days before you make your declaration. The last day to declare is October 10. Therefore you should have your members signed up no later than Monday, August 11! Last election the requisite amount of signatures was obtained for a number of municipalities, including Oak Bay, Esquimalt, and Victoria. In these cases, it only took a week to get the signatures, which is great because that is all we have, one week!
After you get the names there will be more support for organizing your region. We have an outline for by-laws, and a letter of understanding outlining that you agree to run your local organization according to the Green principles that are out lined in the Global Green Charter. If we can accomplish this simple task in the next week we will be raising the bar for our prospective candidates and helping them immensely with their community profile. I’m hoping that many of you have been thinking about these next municipal elections for some time now, with this August 11th deadline it is time to get to work.
Gung-ho Greens!
This kind of stuff might be new to a few of you, but don’t be scared, take action. Contact me if you have any questions or comments or kudos 
Greens@stevefilipovic.ca
Steve Filipovic
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May’s recent visit to Owen Sound was exciting. Capacity crowd, standing ovations, and more than one potential federal candidate working the crowd — but not Shane Jolley. Jolley, you may recall, topped the federal polls for Greens last election. This time around, he has decided not to run federally. But his words at the end of this article are worth pondering for any municipal candidates here in Greater Victoria.
From the news article in the Owen Sound Sun Times:
Jolley’s past campaigns began long before there was any sign of an election writ. Green politics need representation from a candidate who demonstrates serious, long-term commitment to the community and its issues, he said.
“Most candidates fly into action when the writ is dropped,” Jolley said. “As a candidate, I believe you need to have a central presence in your community.
“When there are important issues, you need to show up. You need to show up at the meetings. You need to talk to people. You need to listen. What that does is you understand the issues that the people are dealing with and you have a rapport with the people and they know you care.
“If you just want to win an election, you’re just going to show up for the race. If you really are out for the betterment of your community, you’re going to show up regardless.”
Read the complete article >>
repost of Jim Harris’ post:
http://www.greenparty.ca/en/node/4275#comment-4194
A new Harris Decima poll shows the Green Party 5% ahead of the NDP vote rich Ontario. Ontario contains almost 40% of Canadian electors — so this province has a disproportionate effect on elections.
The Harris Decima poll, released April 2, shows the Liberals at 38% in Ontario, the Conservatives at 33%, the Green Party at 15%, and the NDP at 10%. Green Party is now at roughly half the level of support of the Conservative Party in Ontario.
The report concludes that “There’s a lack of enthusiasm for the Conservatives, waning interest in the NDP, and a firming of support for the Green Party.”
Across Canada the Green Party is at 12% and the NDP at 13%. Given that the margin of error for the poll is 3.1% — the two parties are in a ‘virtual’ or statistical tie.
Harris Decima’s graph below shows NDP support has plummeting by almost 50% from a high of 25% just after the 2006 election to 13% today while the Green Party support has shot up from 4.5% in 2006 to 12% today — almost tripling.
