Searching for Tao

The biggest problem we Greens have in Canada is perception. People don't know who we are, or what we stand for. We tend to operate in a media vacuum, in an absence of media coverage from mainstream sources... which is a shame because the Greens have some really interesting things to say. There are still people in this country who think that we're a "one issue party", or that we're "Conservatives with a green bent". These are caricatures, fashioned by those who don't want us taken seriously, and sadly, they're usually all the public hears.

In 2008, the public had the opportunity to see who we are and what we can do when our leader, Elizabeth May was in the debates -- an opportunity denied to Canadians this time around by an unelected consortium with no responsibility to the public trust. In response, the Greens have seen a surge in support from the general public, former prime ministers, and independent media, and it's that last one that I thought I'd share with you today.

Below is the result of an "open debate" invitation from Channel Zero, an independent media group, who decided that if the media consortium wouldn't invite all of the major parties, and wouldn't even reveal the requirements for inclusion, then someone else would have to pick up the slack. All parties were invited, only the Greens have shown up (so far).

I really encourage you to watch the video below. If for no other reason than to be sure that you've seen all the sides in this upcoming election. You might also want to cut her some slack on account of her voice being rather beaten up over the past few days. She normally sounds much less raspy :-)

What originally started as an interesting addendum to my Toronto trip has turned into quite the experience for me. While the original reasoning for my trip back to Toronto was to attend Sheena's wedding, I decided to extend it by one week so that I might be able to attend the Green Party's Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

I know what you're thinking, and for the most part, it's totally true: these things are boring. There was no shortage of people asking to speak to amendments, amend amendments, or just completely go off on irrelevant tangents, but that's all sort of the point. This is democracy at work: an informed group of people coming together to talk about what we, as a party, want to do in the future.

The process (at least for the Greens, I can't speak for other parties) is twofold: policy and constitutional motions, or in other words, what we stand for, how we will govern ourselves. For my part, I spent my workshop time (the portion of the day in which we break into smaller groups to discuss one of the two aforementioned tracks) in the policy conversations because that's where hang my hat: in the heart of the process, rather than the method.

We talked about and changed party policy on everything from the authority and ownership of the Bank of Canada, to the decriminalisation of polyamory. Some of these motions passed, while others were met with rather strong opposition, but everyone was candid and civil, and in the end we learnt to speak with one voice.

On the issue of polyamoury, one of the most controversial motions, I personally spoke to the plenary session (where everyone, from all groups gather to approve/reject the findings of the workshops), a rather intimidating act I must say. I stood in support of the motion, calling for "moral courage" to stand on what's right, though politically inconvenient and was joined by a number of others who felt much the same.

In the end however, the majority voted it down, in large part due to a lack of understanding of what was being moved (the workshop worked very hard to adjust the motion but it still needs work), as well as a lack of knowledge about the very real fact that conjugal relationships in excess of two people are illegal in this country. Here's the law, in case you were curious:

1. Every one who
   1. practises or enters into or in any manner agrees or consents to practise or enter into
      1. any form of polygamy, or
      2. any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time,
      whether or not it is by law recognized as a binding form of marriage, or
   2. celebrates, assists or is a party to a rite, ceremony, contract or consent that purports to sanction a relationship mentioned in subparagraph (a)(i) or (ii),
   is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
Section 293(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada

Translation: if you're in a conjugal poly relationship, or even attend a wedding-ish party in support of a poly relationship, you're a criminal, and could potentially be thrown in jail for up to five years.

I stood for this because it's the Right thing to do, and even though it didn't pass this time around, I'm confident that with a little work on the education front, we'll see it through in the near future.

So that's it for me right now. Short synopsis: democracy exciting, you should try it :-) My next post, if I can cobble the time together, will be from New York, and/or Washington DC.

I had a rather enlightening conversation with an Old Friend over lunch yesterday. John, a former co-worker at Work [at] Play and I meet for lunch every few months, mostly to catch up on each other's lives and talk about how things are going at my present employer. He's since moved on to be the COO at VirtualDoubloon but we got along so well, that I figured the friendship was worth the maintenance.

This time around, we didn't talk about my current employer so much as how my life was moving in general. I was on the verge of my 31st birthday and coming out of both a romantic relationship and a (thankfully unrelated) business co-founding partnership and "what's next" was the primary topic of discussion.

He asked about my political career, specifically whether I'd run in the next election, and I explained that I'd love to if the riding association in North Vancouver-Seymour is unable to find a candidate, but outside of that, every topic we hit on didn't produce any enthusiasm from me. The truth is, I haven't been motivated by much since I moved here. I've been unable to get excited about the activist scene, and frankly my job stopped being interesting over a year ago.

This line of thinking gets worse when I consider that about six months ago I was in the very same position I am now. I was re-evaluating my whole reasoning for being in Vancouver and was so desperate for something to hold me here that I jumped at the chance to start a company with a stranger -- which for the record is not a good idea :-)

Since our conversation though, I've come to realise that too many of my decisions in this life so far have been ones governed by how those actions might affect others. This isn't to say that I've been a terribly selfless person, rather that I've let my own happiness be hindered by whether or not decision x was a Right decision, or whether it would make people I love unhappy.

I'm not going to do that anymore.

This can mean a variety of things. I might take dance classes, or join a choir, or even take this job. I might move to Stockholm, Amsterdam, Berlin, or Seoul too... I'm not sure yet. I'm just done with letting my happiness be governed by externalities.

31years in... I guess it's better late than never.

So that word is floating around again "Prorogue". For those of you who missed it, I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you, but we've all been without representation in the federal government now for almost a month now. Stephen Harper, our Prime Minister decided to shut down parliament back in December and won't be affording us representation until some time in March.

That's three months paid vacation for a parliament that sat for only 49days last year. Three months without the business of government being done, without your voice being heard in the House. Sure Harper still gets to be the boss and represent Canada abroad and at the Olympics, and no, our soldiers in Afghanistan don't get to take a break. Addressing our commitments on climate change won't happen by the Copenhagen deadline, and we're all still paying taxes for the privilege of living in a democracy.

People have staged (successful) revolutions for less.

In Canada though, where we once saw only apathy, there appears to be some exciting movement among the grass roots. Hundreds of thousands of people have joined a Facebook group denouncing Harper's Conservatives for this move and the numbers keep growing. Support for the Conservatives has begun to dwindle as well and now there are rallies planned around the world in condemnation of this prorogue.

Here's a list of what proroguing means to Canada:

1. Committees investigating accusations of torture of Afghan detainees stop working.
2. Questions about Canada's inaction at the Copenhagen climate-change summit are silenced. Opportunities to move forward with Canada’s plan for sustainable development are stalled for over a month.
3. Discussions and decisions about the pension crisis affecting Canada’s seniors stops.
4. All 37 bills being debated in Parliament are thrown in the trash. Discussion on bills starts from scratch in March, wasting months of hard work by all parties. These bills included new crime legislation, and limits on credit card insurance rates, etc.
5. Your MP cannot raise your concerns in Ottawa
6. Harper will still appoint Conservative senators, giving him control of the Senate.

Frankly, it's actions like these that make it hard for me to claim that I live in a democracy. Instead, it might be more accurate to say that we've become a cyclical banana republic. As for what the other parties are saying...

• The Liberals have flat-out said that they're going back to work with or without the Conservatives on January 25th, the original date that Parliament would have reconvened.
• The NDP have similarly said that they will be "on Parliament Hill" on the 25th, though I'm unsure as to what that means exactly.
• The Bloc Québécois have condemned the prorogation but as far as I can tell, have not said anything about showing up to work.
• The Greens, not in possession of a seat (yet) also condemned the Harper move and will be out at the rallies tomorrow across the country as well.

So what can you do? Some suggestions:

• Tell your friends and family about this. A lot of people still don't know that they're paying taxes to a non-existent government and the Conservatives are counting on an ignorant public to keep them in power. Don't let them have it.
• Join in on one of the rallies this Saturday, January 23rd. They're happening all over the world in Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Amsterdam and even Costa Rica. Details are on noprorogue.ca. Vancouver's rally starts at 1pm at the VAG, while Toronto's starts at 1pm at Dundas Square.
• Call your MP. If (s)he's a Conservative, tell them to get back to work. If they aren't, tell them to consider all alternatives for bringing democracy back to our government. The Coalition is still an option, if only the opposition parties can learn to get along.

I'll be at the event in Vancouver, so if you care to come along, let me know and we can meet up :-)

So it's over, and sadly, the results are much as I expected them to be. Though I'd hoped for a smaller proportion of seats for the Liberals, the punishment dealt to the NDP for their deplorable environmental platform is sufficient in my book.

From what I've seen of the results so far, my campaign went fairly well considering the amount of time/money I had to contribute and my relative inexperience from the start. A Liberal win in my riding was a near inevitability under our voting system so I'm actually quite happy with my showing.

For my part, it's really been a great experience. I've learnt a great deal about how a campaign is run, and dramatically improved on my public speaking skills. I've gained a renewed sense of confidence in my ability to represent myself in formal gatherings and I've met some really interesting people.

The people, though, that's what's been most interesting for me. Just the experience of meeting complete strangers with a unique understanding of their field, or their portion of the ecosystem was very rewarding: seniors with a serious passion about doing the Right thing by their grand-kids, and young people with that kind of passionate faith and dedication to a shared goal. This is what politics is about and I love it. If there's one lesson I am to take away from this experience, it must be no one can know everything and that there is real expertise (as well as willingness to contribute) in a variety of fields out there -- you just have to go looking for it.

Sadly, though, with the overall percentage that the Greens acquired in this race, once again we took a grand total of zero seats. And now, with STV having been defeated for its third and final time, BC will have another generation of unrepresentative politics in the Legislature.

[rant]

Joseph de Maistre said: "Every country has the government it deserves" and he was absolutely right. British Columbians have proven for the third and final time that they have no interest in better representation -- or perhaps more accurately put -- have no interest in learning about how they might be better represented.

The vast majority of anti-STV comments I've heard over the past month (with the exception of Stephen's) were largely uninformed or worse, based entirely on a combined ignorance of the subject and a disinterest in learning anything about it. BC will have exactly the government it deserves, one that operates best when the progressive majority is routinely ignored.

And for people like Stephen, who continually muddied the debate by claiming that STV wasn't as good as other options, and that the referendum needed to be more inclusive of other alternatives like MMP, thank you so much for screwing this up for the rest of us. Proportional representation is now off the table in BC for decades. Your claims that another voting system might be better might have had some merit if proposed to a minority government elected under STV, but your commitment to fear, uncertainty and doubt has ensured that this will not happen for a very, very long time.

[/rant]

The aforementioned bitterness aside, my experience has been on the whole very positive and I intend to run again if I'm still living in BC in 2013. Politics seems to suit me quite well actually -- it has, after all been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. This whole process has been an honour and a privilege and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to run.

Here it is, the end of my first political campaign. I'll have all kinds of reflections later, but for now I thought that I might invite you all to the election night party for the Greens here in Vancouver. If you supported us today, or would just like to have a few drinks with the people who are fighting the uphill battle for sustainability in this province, I encourage you to drop by Kentizen Restaurant in Tinseltown anytime between 7pm and midnight tonight.

Also, if you haven't voted yet, it's time to get out there and exercise your privilege as a Free citizen of a democracy. It took me all of six minutes this morning. If you didn't receive a voting card in the mail, you can still vote, you just need to bring a piece of valid BC id (drivers license, status card, etc.) and proof of address (like a credit card / hydro bill).

Lastly, if you voted for STV or the Greens, let me know! Text me at 778.238.6876 or find me on Twitter (@searchingfortao). It'll perk up my day :-)

I recieved an email tonight from a constituent in my riding regarding the horrible bus service she, at 50 years of age, has to endure. Given that I'm a low-profile candidate, I've not really had an opportunity to talk about my two favourite subjects in this election: transit and energy, so I was quite happy to write about it at length.

After I got it all down though, I realised that I've never done that before: written out exactly what needs to be done. So I'm posting it here, if only to use it as a checklist for my future work in this area.

I'm afraid that what I have to tell you may not be what you want to hear, but will also be true and it will be everything I know about transit and community building.

You are living in the classic North American conundrum. You've moved into a quiet neighbourhood away from the noise and traffic of the city because it's comfortable and peaceful. The air is cleaner, the pace slower and on the whole, you're happier for it. It's just that transportation in and out of the area is difficult.

The natural request for people in your position then is that if only the bus service were extended or simply had its frequency improved then life would be perfect. This line of thinking makes sense, but when you start taking into account the financials of such a plan as well as the needs of the rest of the province things start looking less and less plausible.

Low-density communities are very difficult to service not only because the residents are far apart, but because the entire community is often built with the car in mind. Residents are expected to own a car, and transit is always an afterthought: it's for those who can't drive. What's worse, if you extend transit into these areas, the land value increases and this drives sprawl further away from the centres, recreating the initial problem. For these reasons transit extensions into low-density areas are very expensive and have a low return on investment in terms of ridership achieved and carbon footprint reduced.

Now, with all of the above said, I'm not going to tell you that the Green Party has no intentions of extending transit into your area, far from it. However, I need my answer framed with the above in mind.

The Green Party is all about building healthier communities with accessible transit and lots of public space. In a perfect world, transit in the Lower Mainland would be a collection of mixed-density communities interlinked with high-speed transit corridors and independently covered in a mesh of light rail streetcar lines. You could walk from your home to a transit stop a block or two away, ride the regular line to the central hub and then hop the high-speed to wherever you need to go.

But we don't live in that world, we live in this one, and in this one your transit needs aren't being met. So I'm going to tell you what I want to do to move us closer to that ideal world while we do what we can for your situation as well.

For starters, the transit routing needs to be simplified. Straight lines, dedicated lanes and regular times are the key here. Even if the bus only comes every 20min, so long as it's predictable, people can start to see it as a viable alternative to a car.

Second, we slowly need to restructure our communities to serve as a series of hubs. From models as simple as Toronto to systems as complex as Seoul, we know that constructing your community predicated on the assumption that everyone just wants to use transit to commute to and from work is a flawed one. We visit friends and family, we go out for dinner, and see movies or walk on the waterfront, and in a community that constructs its transit primarily for commuting, all of these activities necessitate a private vehicle. Following a hub model would foster private commercial development in the transit interchanges and allow us to better plan the growth of the community by placing residential blocks near hubs or along future light rail corridors.

It should also be noted that both of these actions would require support from the municipal levels of government as well as the province.

For you, all this would mean that in the short term, your mobility should improve with regular (albeit not every 5 minutes) and that in the medium term, you should be able to get on any bus, going any direction and know that it will eventually end up at a transit hub where you'll find a library, community centre, shopping district or the Seabus.

That was a rather long-winded answer, but I hope that it's addressed your questions. It's always nice to talk to a constituent about transit, since it's one of the primary reasons I got into this in the first place. On the off chance that I don't win the seat for North Vancouver-Seymour, you can be sure that I'll continue to push for the above kind of reforms in this city because I know that it's the right way to go for us.

Thanks again for your interest and support.

Margaret found this North Shore News article covering me and one of the other North Shore Greens, Ryan Windsor and I thought that I'd share it here. If you see any other coverage, (good or bad) do let me know eh?

I participated in my first political debate last night -- as a candidate anyway. It was scary, humbling, nerve-racking, enlightening and altogether exciting. Overall, I would call it a positive experience.

Held in a United church, I took a seat at the table at the front of the sanctuary with the three other candidates Jane Thornthwaite (Liberal), Mo Norton (NDP), and Gary Hee (Conservative) and we fielded questions one at a time on a variety of topics. I didn't really like the format, as it didn't allow candidates to respond to claims by their competitors unless they were next in line, but for the most part the tone was civil and respectful (though the audience did get rather belligerent toward the Liberal candidate a few times.

For my part, I suppose that I performed as expected. As first-time candidates often do, I lacked polish, used some terminology that shall we say, "didn't resonate well with some people" and most importantly choked on the first two questions as they were in areas on which I wasn't all that well versed yet.

After those first two though, I got my act together and did very well. I was clear, concise and did a very good job and positioning the Greens as a viable alternative to the Liberals & NDP.

When it was all over, I had a number of people take a moment to come up to me and congratulate me on a good debate and let me know that I'd flipped their vote away from one of the other candidates. I can't tell you how good that felt. Though I clearly could have done better, I am quite proud of myself :-)

I'd also like to take a moment here to thank my brother, Melanie, Margaret and Quinn for coming out to support me last night. As intimidating as the whole process was, having them in the audience really did make it so much easier on me. Thank you so much guys.

My next (and last?) debate is this Thursday at 7pm. As Quinn & Melanie took notes for me from this last debate, I shall endeavour to remedy my previous shortcomings and give the other candidates another run for their money then.

And so, with just over 2weeks left in the campaign, (election & referendum on the 12th people! Do your research!), I've started the process of booking into debates for my riding of North Vancouver-Seymour. If you live in the riding, or just feel like coming out to see me debate the other three candidates, here are the times & locations:

A general debate

Date: Monday May 4, 2009
Time: 7-9pm
Location: Mount Seymour United Church, 1200 Parkgate Avenue, North Vancouver

Hosted by the Teachers Association

Date: Thursday, May 7, 2009
Time: 7-9 pm
Location: Windsor Secondary (Multipurpose Room), 931 Broadview Dr, North Vancouver

To my friends and family in the area, I'd really appreciate the moral support if you can show up to one or either of these. It's my first time with such responsibility, and it's always good to have people you care about around for this kind of thing.