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Waterloo Region Greens Release Local Platform

The Green Party is gaining momentum across the province. Leader Mike Schreiner has crossed the province meeting with enthusiastic people who want integrity, intelligence and honesty in their choice and Schreiner delivers. In fact, Mainstreet polls predicted Schreiner would win his seat in Guelph.

Across the region our candidates and their teams are out everyday talking with potential voters. Looking at lawn signs reveals that people are tired of the status quo and find the Green platform refreshing and clear in objectives.

Today, the Green Party candidates for Waterloo Region Green Party have released a made-in-Waterloo Region platform to let the people in this region know that their Green candidates will be strong advocates for the needs of this community. Because they understand the value of collaboration and cooperation, the candidates created the document as a team.

Read the Waterloo Region Green Party Platform (.PDF, 1.1 MBytes)

For more information contact:

Stacey Danckert, Zdravko Gunjevic, David Weber, Bob Jonkman, and Michele Braniff at 226-476-4529, 6 Duke St E., Kitchener, Ontario Map.

Original: Waterloo Region Green Party Candidates Release a Made-in-Waterloo Region Platform – Stacey Danckert

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“Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline” #doc Free Screening

The Green Party opposes “whipped” votes, something the 3 biggest parties engage in as a matter of course. If you want to understand why whipped votes are a problem, and to better understand the GPO position, join us on Sunday join at the WRGreens Campaign Office (6 Duke Street East, Kitchener, Ontario) for a screening of Sean Holman’s excellent documentary, “Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline”

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Advance Polls in Waterloo Region

Voting Day is Thursday, 7 June 2018, but if you’re busy or out-of-town you can vote now at one of the advance polls. Here are the locations as listed on the Elections Ontario website

Returning Office Voting

Dates: 10 May to 6 Jun 2018
Times:
Monday to Saturday: 10 AM – 8 PM
Sunday May 13, May 20, June 3: 12 PM – 5 PM
Sunday May 27: 10 AM – 8 PM

In-person voting at returning offices ends on June 6 at 6 P.M.

Advance Polls

Dates: Saturday, 26 May to Wednesday 30 May 2018
Time: 10:00am to 8:00pm

Cambridge Elections Ontario

Cambridge Returning Office

Location is accessible
30 Pinebush Road unit 101 Map
Cambridge, N1R 8K5

Phone number is (866) 850-0473

Allan Reuter Centre

Location is accessible
507 King Street EastMap
Cambridge, N3H 3N4

Cambridge Centre

Location is accessible
355 Hespeler RoadMap
Cambridge, N1R 6B3

Cambridge Place

Location is accessible
73 Water Street North Map
Cambridge, N1R 7L6

Kitchener Centre Elections Ontario

Kitchener Returning Office

Location is accessible
137 Glasgow Street unit 210 Map
Kitchener, N2G 4X8

Phone number is (866) 850-4574

Downtown Community Centre

Location is accessible
35B Weber Street West Map
Kitchener, N2H 3Z1

Stanley Park Zehrs Store

Location is accessible
1005 Ottawa Street North Map
Kitchener, N2A 1H1

Victoria Hills Community Centre

Location is accessible
10 Chopin Drive Map
Kitchener, N2M 2G2

Kitchener — Conestoga Elections Ontario

Kitchener — Conestoga Returning Office

Location is accessible
1187 Fischer Hallman Road Map
Kitchener, N2E 4H9

Phone number is (866) 850-8977

Breslau Community Centre

Location is accessible
100 Andover Drive Map
Breslau, N0B 1M0

Elmira Lion’s Club

Location may have an accessibility barrier
40 South Street West Map
Elmira, N3B 1K8

Forest Heights Community Centre

Location is accessible
1700 Queen’s Boulevard Map
Kitchener, N2N 3L6

Wilmot Recreation Complex

Location is accessible
1291 Nafziger Road Map
Baden, N3A 0C4

Kitchener South — Hespeler Elections Ontario

Kitchener South – Hespeler Returning Office

Location is accessible
148 Manitou Drive unit 202 Map
Kitchener, N2C 1L3

Phone number is (866) 714-2812

Country Hills Community Centre

Location is accessible
100 Rittenhouse Road Map
Kitchener, N2G 4G7

Heritage College Community Centre

Location is accessible
175 Holiday Inn Drive Map
Cambridge, N3C 3T2

Kingsdale Community Centre

Location is accessible
72 Wilson Avenue Map
Kitchener, N2C 1G5

Waterloo Elections Ontario

Waterloo Returning Office

Location is accessible
630 Weber Street North unit 100 Map
Waterloo, N2V 2N2

Phone number is (866) 259-7278

Albert Mccormick Community Centre

Location is accessible
500 Parkside Drive Map
Waterloo, N2L 5J4

Kitchener-Waterloo Bilingual School

Location is accessible
600 Erb Street West Map
Waterloo, N2J 3Z4

Rim Park

Location is accessible
2001 University Avenue East Map
Waterloo, N2K 4K4

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Infiltrate The Debate: 6pm Sun 27 May 2018 at the @WR_Greens Campaign Office

Mike Schreiner on stage
Hi everyone! Want to see Mike Schreiner participate in the Leaders Debate tomorrow night? Join the Waterloo Region Greens at the Campaign Office for a watching party!

Despite our best efforts, the unelected and unaccountable media consortium has continued with their decision to exclude the Greens from the televised Leaders Debates.

Even though we are silenced, we must stay strong. We will keep pushing to get our Green voices heard, in all the ways we can.

On Sunday, Mike Schreiner will ‘infiltrate the debate’ by hosting a viewing party and doing a live commentary of the televised Leaders Debate in his home riding of Guelph. The event will be livestreamed, so we hope you can all tune in to hear the real solutions Greens want to provide to the province.

Join us at the WR Greens campaign office, perhaps bring a snack to share, and we’ll watch the Facebook live stream.

When: Sunday, May 27, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Where: WR Greens Campaign Office, 6 Duke Street East, Kitchener Map
Facebook Live: Mike Schreiner: I’ll be doing a live commentary of the (unfair) Leaders Debate.

Infiltrate the Debate | Green Party of Ontario

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High Speed Rail in South-Western Ontario

[by Bob Jonkman. reprinted from Bob Jonkman, Green Party Candidate]

One of the first events I attended as the Green Party of Ontario candidate for Kitchener–Conestoga was the InterCityRail Town Hall meeting on High Speed Rail, held Wednesday, 18 April 2018.

Map showing High Speed Rail corridor from Windsor, through Chatham, London, Kitchener, Guelph, Malton, and Union Station in Toronto
Proposed Future Southwestern Ontario Passenger Rail Network

Kitchener–Conestoga rural residents are worried about the High Speed right-of-way cutting their farms in two, and since HSR cannot have at-grade crossings (because HSR is 200+ km/h speeds), farmers are concerned that they’ll have to detour tens of kilometres out of their way to access their farmlands — InterCityRail says only four grade-separated crossings are planned between Kitchener and London.

There would be only seven stops: Starting in Windsor, through Chatham, London, Kitchener, Guelph, Malton, and ending at Union Station in Toronto. None of the smaller communities such as St. Mary’s or Stratford would have service. Not even the large community of Brampton is slated for a High Speed Rail station. If the experience of expanding GO Train service around 2012 is anything to go by, VIA Rail will cut its service to those communities once High Speed Rail is established.

An alternative, High Performance Rail (HPR) has been proposed that would allow slightly slower trains (150-180 km/h) to run on the existing right-of-way and still have grade-level crossings, but the Minister of Transporation, Kathryn McGarry (Lib), has flat-out said the government will not consider anything in their EPA study except a new High Speed Rail corridor. And the Ontario Federation of Agriculture that represents the farmers directly affected by this have not been consulted, and do not have a voice in the decision making.

Other jurisdictions are jumping on the High Speed Rail bandwagon too. 570AM news reports that Waterloo is pushing for High Speed Rail with the intention of turning South-Western Ontario into one continuous city of 6 million people…

I was a fan of High Speed Rail until attending the Town Hall meeting, which was educational in informing me about High Performance Rail and the issues farmers face with HSR. The Green Party’s Vision Planet document says: “Prioritize low-cost high-performance rail in the short-term as the province plans long-term for higher-cost, high-speed rail projects.” But as the representative for Kitchener–Conestoga I will advocate that High Performance Rail should be the ultimate goal, the better to keep farms together, preserve farmland, protect wildlife, and provide better rail service to smaller communities.

Actually, it’s more than Kitchener–Conestoga residents who are concerned, also Oxford and Perth–Wellington residents are affected, and more. Hopefully we’ll have Green Party Members in those ridings soon!

The image is from the Ontario government report: High Speed Rail in Ontario: Special Advisor’s Final Report

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Election Finance Laws

The Liberals in previous years had a bad habit of having expensive dinners that cabinet ministers could attend.  This is a problem as it means rich people have more access to the government then people with little or no disposable income. This can be a problem in a democracy.

In democracy, money shouldn’t outweigh citizens.

Mike Schreiner led the charge to reform political fundraising laws in order to stop this ‘pay for access’. During the process he also got corporation and union donations to political entities banned, brought down the donation limits (although the new limits are still higher than most people can afford).

Candidates, MPPs, cabinet ministers can no longer attend fundraising dinners.  People do not have to pay to access Ontario politicians.

Elections Ontario has handy guidebooks for Political Parties, Candidates and their CFOs on their website. They are in easy to understand language, spell out clearly what are fundraising events and restrictions on who can attend these events.  Donation limits are easily found out as well.  The limit is $1222 for 2018. This amount can be donated to:

  • a Party, and
  • to a constituency association
  • and to a campaign.

You can donate $1222 in total to election campaigns.  This can be donated to one campaign or spread out over several campaigns.  The maximum you can donate in total is $3,666 in total.

Earth Day with David Suzuki

Election Finance laws are mildly frustrating for someone in the position of CFO or as a fundraising director.  Having to say, “Sorry, you can’t donate that much, as much as I would like to accept it” or “no we can’t charge admission to this event” is hard to do.  That is why the recent Earth Day rally in Guelph with David Suzuki, Sarah Harmer, Elizabeth May and Mike Schreiner was free.   Anyone could attend the event.  We did ask for donations at the event, which is allowed, but a donation was not required for attendance.

However, the frustration is worth it to make democracy stronger.  Everyone should have access to the people running for office and in office without having to pay for the privilege.  The representatives elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario are there to represent us, the people in the province.  Right now, we are having an election, essentially one big job interview for candidates.  We all should have access to them, no matter how much money we have, because the candidates who are elected are supposed to represent us at Queen’s Park.

When people running for office break Election Finance laws, I wonder what they do they really think about democracy?  What other laws will they break to get or retain power?

The laws governing election spending limits and ‘pay for access’ are there to help make our elections fair and democratic.

Large election events don’t just happen.  They are never planned in isolation.  Candidates (and especially leaders of parties) never just show up.  Ignorance of the law is no excuse and is never an excuse.

Election laws are there to protect you, the people of Ontario.

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WRGreens @ THE MUSEUM

The event was a series of round tables connecting people with candidates, interspersed with 3-5 minute talks by candidates and representatives from the local culture scene. The speaking order was determined by drawing names out of a bowl, and as it happened, our Green Candidates dominated the beginning of the evening.

Waterloo Candidate Zdravko Gunjevic started the evening off with a look at the importance of Public Libraries in our shared culture (if you listen closely you’ll hear an Ontario Cabinet Minister heckle him)

Next up, Kitchener-Conestoga Candidate Bob Jonkman considers the impact of culture on our most vulnerable citizens

And finally, Kitchener Centre Candidate Stacey Danckert spoke about the importance of public support for the creators who make our culture

WRGreens were honoured to be included in this valuable event.

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Sign of the times: #PeoplePoweredChange #ONelxn

tmp_1604-IMG_20180516_2044201297076930The WRGreens sign is up!

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The Waterloo Region Greens are ready to make history by sending some Green MPPs to Queen’s Park!

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Drop by 6 Duke Street East, Kitchener to pick up a sign, or to volunteer, donate, or just say “hi”!

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Special thanks to Tori, who created a fabulous banner, and thanks to the sign crew– Greg, Mark, James, Elliot– who did an excellent job hanging it today!