March with Mike Schreiner & fellow Greens at the 2016 International Plowing Match Opening Parade in Wellington County!
The parade will take place on Tuesday, September 20 in the town of Minto (Harriston), Ontario.
The parade will begin at 10:00 am sharp and Green supporters will be gathering at 9:00 am in the parade assembly area.
We would love to have you come out to show your support for the GPO, and join us in celebrating Ontario’s farmland and rural communities. Everyone is welcome!
Chelsea Hotel Churchill Ballroom
33 Gerrard St W,
Toronto, ON → map ←
1:30—4:15 pm Witness Panel(s)
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13 h 30—16 h 15 Panel(s) de témoins
4:15—5:00 pm Open mic
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16 h 15—17 h 00* séance micro ouvert
6:30—9:30 pm Open mic
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18 h 30—21 h 30* séance micro ouvert
*Please note that the end time for the open mic sessions are approximate
This month is just flying by! Before this event, don’t forget The Honourable Maryam Monself will be consulting with Waterloo Region at the Liberal Town Hall on Wednesday Sept. 14th, and and our own Community Dialogue will be the following Saturday. It would be tremendous if you could print a poster or two to hang on local bulletin boards or hydro poles.
And remember, you can keep up with Waterloo Greens events in our Calendar, or by subscribing to this blog!
Kitchener Public Library
Meeting Room C ~ Central Branch ~ 85 Queen St N, Kitchener, ON N2H 2H1 map REGISTER here
September 14th, 2016
“You’re invited to join the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of Democratic Institutions, at a series of federal electoral reform community dialogue events across Canada. These events, which complement the work of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform, are intended to raise awareness of electoral reform and provide an opportunity for you to engage in discussion with others about the future of Canada’s democracy.
These events will be hosted in English and French in physically accessible venues. No pre-registration is required, but note that seats will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
September 17th @WR_Greens hosts a Community Dialogue on Electoral Reform
Join us for a community dialogue about proportional representation and electoral reform!
Anita Krajnc ‘s Lawyer James Silver explains what this case is really all about.
The “Pig Trial” began on August 24th and 25th. Toronto Pig Save co-founder, Anita Krajnc, is facing charges for giving water to pigs en route to slaughter who were, as an expert testified last Thursday, “in all likelihood, in severe distress.” Although Anita is facing charges, it is the factory farming industry that is on trial.
We praise those who intervene on behalf of a dog in a hot car. Yet pigs, whose intelligence is likened to that of a toddler, are commodified, degraded to mere property or “things”, and robbed of their individuality. This concept of sentient beings as property is part of what Save activists seek to address in the Pig Trial.
In Canada, pigs are allowed to be transported for up to 36 hours without food or water. These are some of the weakest standards in the world.
The farmer behind the charges, Eric Van Boekel, and his truck driver both took the stand. Krajnc’s lawyers, James Silver and Gary Grill, ran through a lengthy line of questioning of the farm and its operations in order to demonstrate that what Anita was doing was truly in the public good.
Krajnc’s lawyer’s cross-examination of the driver made it clear that there was no real “mischief” involved: no profits were lost, the “property” – such that it is – was not damaged, nor was the driver impeded from doing his job.
Van Boekel was asked details of his operation including the treatment of the pigs, confinement practices, antibiotics, nutrition, and environmental impacts.
When describing “piglet processing”, Van Boekel explained how piglets’ teeth are cut and their tails docked by crushing the bone. He noted, “It hurts like hell, but [the piglets] won’t remember it.”
Disturbingly, Van Boekel made many comparisons to human mothers while on the stand. When describing the containment facilities for pregnant pigs, he stated, “Like most mothers can attest to, their hormones flare up. They kind of don’t know what they’re doing.” He explained that hormones combined with their territorial nature was the rationale behind confining pregnant pigs in “gestation stalls” for days on end.
Van Boekel explained how female pigs are artificially inseminated with a pregnancy lasting for 114 days. After little more than a month, her piglets are weaned, and she has only 4-9 days before she is impregnated again. I should hope sympathetic women everywhere would be outraged.
Most ironic was the questioning that explored environmental impacts, such as when Van Boekel plead guilty after his farming operation contaminated a local river.
Van Boekel suggests he was concerned about “contaminants” Krajnc may have had in the “unknown liquid”. But, when samples were offered, the driver refused without even once checking the animals to see if they were in distress.
Despite proclamations of concerns about “contaminants”, no precautions have been taken since, despite the hundreds of individuals joining Krajnc every week.
It is clear these are not the motivations for laying these charges but, in the driver’s own words in his statement to the police, “[the activists] are messing with our livelihood.”
Krajnc and Toronto Pig Save have sparked a worldwide movement of “Save” groups. She and hundreds of others bear witness to animals on their way to slaughter. These animals are scared. They can hear the screams and smell the blood.
Pig Save also uses social media as a tool to ensure their stories do not remain invisible. It is clear their activism is having an effect. More than ever, people are talking about where their food comes from.
Bearing witness is not easy. But, as Krajnc states, when one sees suffering it is our duty to move closer and try to help, not to look away.
It is past time for our laws to be updated to give all non-human animals the respect and dignity they deserve.
The Pig Trial resumes on October 3rd in Burlington.
Kitchener City Hall Rotunda
200 King St. W., Kitchener
Kitchener, N2G 4G7, Canada
All five MPs in Waterloo Region are teaming up for this multi-constituency consultation. We need you to commit now to attend this most important of consultations!
We’ll show our support for the People’s Climate Plan. Organizers with the People’s Climate Plan are calling for the national climate strategy that respects climate science and Canada’s commitments in the Paris Agreement, ensures a plan to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050, and enshrines justice for all workers and Indigenous communities.
Get directions to this event ~ due to LRT construction, out of towners should try to come early in case of detours
EVERYONE needs to come to this important event.
This is a multipartisan event that is the result of collaboration of many different groups. Both Liberal and Conservative MPs will be in attendance, with GPC and likely NDP folk helping to facilitate.
As previously mentioned, two very contentious resolutions were put forward at the 2016 Green Party of Canada Convention. Even if you were unable to attend, you can watch recordings of The Real News Network’s livestream in a convenient WRGreens YouTube playlist.
For me, the choice was summed up by what Lisa Barrett said in this quotation [found in this video]:
During the resolution workshop on Saturday, a proposed amendment to the “Revoking the Charitable Status of the Jewish National Fund Canada (JNF)” resolution that would remove any mention of the JNF, making it generic was put forward, but voted down because it substantively changed the original intent of the amendment. The workshop voted to pass the original resolution and send it on to a plenary vote, where the amendment was reintroduced and pushed through. The Palestinian Self-Determination and the Movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution was indeed grounds for spirited debate, both in the workshop and the plenary.
Because both resolutions dealt with Isreal, the chief arguments against them were accusation of antisemitism. As I understand it, since they were announced there was a strong campaign to stop both resolutions. The idea that any Canadians should be prevented from even discussing human rights is reprehensible to me, personally.
What it boils down to is that sanctioning a nation that uses its power to commit human rights violations against a captive population is a defense of human rights, not an antisemitic attack. This is a human rights issue, a sphere in which Canadians used to aspire to lead the world. Foreign policy does not enter into it.
On Sunday, August 7th, at the 2016 Green Party of Canada 2016 Convention, the Green Party leader of Quebec, Alex Tyrrell reported:
“The Green Party of Canada delegates have just voted to endorse Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli government at the federal convention in Ottawa!
Congratulations to all the party members, who worked hard to advocate for human rights in the face of harsh criticism, intimidation and smear campaigns carried out by the Israel lobby.
There is no excuse, justification or reason to permit the Israeli government to continue their reign of terror against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.”
The National Post article offers a reasonably balanced view of the issue. (Although the comments below make up or it.)
The way [Green Party president, Ken] Melamed sees it, the fact the issue was being debated at all was a sign of how democratic the Green Party is. Other political parties don’t even touch topics like these, he suggested.
If grassroots within the Green Party of Canada membership want to debate something and bring it into the policy book — no matter how controversial — there’s nothing stopping them.
Unlike an actual anti-Semitic attack, this resolution is not forever, instead it will last only “until such time as Israel implements a permanent ban on further settlement construction in the OPT, and enters into good faith negotiations.”
BE IT RESOLVED that the GPC supports the use of divestment, boycott and sanctions (“BDS”) that are targeted to those sectors of Israel’s economy and society which profit from the ongoing occupation of the [Occupied Palestinian Territories] OPT;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the GPC will support such a form of BDS until such time as Israel implements a permanent ban on further settlement construction in the OPT, and enters into good faith negotiations with representatives of the Palestinian people for the purpose of establishing a viable, contiguous and truly sovereign Palestinian state.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the GPC opposes all efforts to prohibit, punish or otherwise deter expressions of support for BDS.
While Canada does indeed need to clean our own house and really truly address our own truth and reconciliation process, that does not preclude standing up for civil rights elsewhere.
I am proud to be a member of the only major Canadian political party to stand up for social justice in Israel.
Today is Earth Overshoot day, which means that today humanity has used up the amount of resources that the planet can reliably provide us renewably for the entire year. It moves several days earlier each year; in 2015 it happened on August 13th. The official website makes a number of suggestions for ways that you can make a difference.
The idea that we can continue to demand ever more each year from a planet that isn’t getting any bigger is more than a little nuts, so maybe it’s time to stop taking the word of economists about it.
It looks to be a fabulous jam packed weekend of events. If you haven’t registered, I believe it is still possible to attend the Convention although the Regular registration rate has ended. If you go, remember to save your receipts as a portion of convention fees are eligible for federal political contribution tax-receipts.
Although I’d love to be there for the keynote speeches and the Proportional Representation workshop, perhaps the thing I will regret missing most will be the debate and the opportunity to vote on the two policy resolutions put forward by our new Shadow Cabinet Justice Critic, Dimitri Lascaris, who wrote the:
2016 International Plowing Match Opening Parade
Today is 
