Dear Friends of the Ottawa South Green Party,

The Green Party of Canada, Ottawa South Electoral District Association (EDA) hereby opens the nomination contest to choose the next candidate to represent the Green Party of Canada in the 41st General Federal Election. The Green Party would like to continue building on its success by being prepared for the next election in advance.  Under the current government, it is very possible there will be an election call within a year. 

Candidates are the ambassadors of the Green Party and should be familiar with the policies and principles of the GPC, comfortable with public speaking and the issues, able to communicate succinctly and effectively, and be a member of the Green Party of Canada. To review the nomination rules go to: http://www.greenparty.ca/files/nomination_procedures_march2009.pdf

To become a member able to vote at a nomination meeting or to meet the eligibility requirements to be a candidate you must be a member 30 days in advance of a nomination meeting, so please renew or join the Green Party of Canada at: http://www.greenparty.ca/

The nomination period closes July 30th. By that date, all prospective contestants must have submitted their complete application to the Green Party Office, as outlined in the nominations procedures.  Late entries will not be considered.  You may contact the Campaign Committee (contact information below) or Nicole Parker, Regional Organizer, for more details, candidate application forms and nomination procedures (available in English and French).

A nomination meeting or acclamation notice will be sent out by the EDA in the coming weeks after all nomination contestants have been determined. Then it will be up to you, the members of the Ottawa-South EDA, to select our next candidate!

Please mark these important dates on your calendar: 

Wednesday, July 15th - Nominations Open

Thursday, July 30th - Nominations Close

Wednesday, August 5th - Approved Nomination Candidates are Announced

Saturday, August 29th - Deadline for Nomination Candidates to Sign-Up New Members  

Thank you,

Colin Hine, CEO

Green Party of Canada, Ottawa-South EDA

613-739-2784

The State of Democracy in Canada

Ottawa City councillor Clive Doucet opened up the meeting with some observations on current issues and events.  Unfortunately Clive had to leave early because of prior commitment but his comments stimulated much discussion amongst participants.  Following is a summary of comments from Clive and others during the course of the meeting.

In Canada, as in many other countries, many aspects of the democratic process are still quite superficial.  Inadequate controls are in place and there is still no real accountability by the people in power.  Successive governments have encouraged degradation of Canada's nation institutions:

e.g. the health care system and CN Rail.  At the local level, facilities and infrastructure have been allowed to degrade.  In almost every case, after allowing these institutions to fail universal solutions appear to favor privatization in some form. 

• In the health care system privatization of selected services and hospitals is seen by many as a viable solution. 
• After CN failed due to lack of adequate financial support from government it was privatized and is now virtually a U.S. focused company.  Canadian based services and facilities continue to degenerate. 
• The City of Ottawa has allowed facilities like Lansdowne Part to degenerate and crumble year after year.  The City is now considering a sole source contract arrangement with a developer group that will virtually take over develop and operate the entire Lansdowne facility for a period of some 30 years returning it to the City's care just in time for its mid-life refit. 

On Saturday May 9th Ottawa South Green Party members and friends participated in a spring clean-up on Pleasant Park Road, along Lynda Lane and in Lynda Lane Park.  The event was publicized and organized by local party membership chair Dr. Michael Pilon.  Over 12 people, young and not so young, turned out to help on a rainy morning.

The area along both sides of Lynda Lane yielded a lot of refuse, most of it from Ottawa Hospital visitors who park there daily in great numbers.  Some 14 bags of garbage and waste were picked up in less than 2 hours.  An amazing variety of items was collected including a selection of condoms; diapers; liquor bottles; plastic shopping bags; beer and soft drink cans/bottles; as well as many Tim Horton's cups.  It is shameful and disturbing that so much trash is dumped on public property.  One wonders if visitors parking on hospital property dispose of trash and garbage in the same way. 

Construction waste, bricks and other items, have also been dumped in the area.  City of Ottawa officials have indicated that they will have this waste removed.  The City helped in another way too, by kindly loaning garbage picking tools.  These helped reduce the amount of back bending involved. 

Thanks to all those who participated in the clean-up.  The Lynda Lane area looks a lot tidier now, for a day or two anyway! 

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place at St. Thomas the Apostle Anglican church, Alta vista on Tuesday, April 21, 2009.

 Here is the new executive committee approved at the meeting:

CEO: Colin Hine

Financial Agent: Pieter Helmke

Membership Chair: Michael Pilon

Members at large: Qais Ghanem; Manuel Costa

 See the Contact page for further details.  more information to follow.

Dear Green Party of Canada Member,

The Annual General Meeting of the Green Party of Canada: Ottawa South Electoral district Association will take place on:  Tuesday April 21, 2009 at 7:00 pm - 9:00pm

Location:  St Thomas the Apostle Anglican Church, 2345 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa, ON

(next to the fire station at Randall)

During the fall 2008 federal election campaign last, my team and I went door to door to more than 2000 homes, looking for votes. Sometimes it was hard work, especially when the weather was uncooperative, at times people were not interested, but most of the time the good people of Ottawa South were not only interested, but also welcoming and enthusiastic. The Green Party generated more than any previous level of interest.

Needless to say there was a big array of topics discussed. Common complaints were that "our MP never listens to us, except once every four years", or "politicians do not care what we think".  I share these very same feelings which is why I became a Green Party Candidate. 

Following is the original text of a letter to the Ottawa Citizen from Dick Bakker, CEO of the Ottawa South Green Party EDA.  The letter published March 4, 2009 was edited because of space limitations.  The full original text is included here. 

Re: McGuinty's mighty wind.

Randall Denley, Sunday March 1, 2009

The Dialogue for Democracy event scheduled for Tue Feb 17 was 
postponed due to lack of attendees.  Three people involved in 
organizing the event showed up and a fourth person arrived shortly 
after the event was cancelled.

Many thanks to Patrick Kelly for preparing a kick-off presentation on 
the planned topic (Closing the Circle).  This is an interesting 
subject, so we plan to try again with the same topic in March.

The March event will be held on the 2nd Tuesday in March (Tue. Mar 10, 
2009 at St. Thomas the Apostle church on Alta Vista Drive).  You are 
invited to attend and participate in the dialogue.

The April meeting will revert to the third Tuesday monthly schedule.  
This event will be held in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting 
(AGM) for the Green Party of Canada, Ottawa South.  Members and 
non-members are invited to attend but only members in good standing 
are entitled to vote on AGM motions.  All members in good standing 
will be notified by mail shortly.

For more information please contact Colin Hine: 613-739-2784; 
chine@ottawasouthgreenparty.ca.

Is the economic crisis a result of economic, credit, financial or environmental issues?  What are some possible ways to resolve it; is a spending spree/stimulus a wise idea?  Should the spending be by individuals or by governments?  Should taxes be higher or lower? 

The topic for the December 2008 meeting was Darfur.  It proved to be an interesting and informative meeting that helped people better understand the complex background that has resulted in a history of abductions and other human rights violations in this area.  Two Sudanese ex-patriots spoke at some length about the history of the region.  The country is divided along religious lines; primarily Arabic speaking Moslems and Christians.  The Sudanese government in Kharoum supports the Janjaweed and other militias.