Remaining positive

I am trying to walk a delicate balance in this election between two opposing messages. The first message, central to my beliefs and my role as a Green candidate, is to tell people about how the Green party will move us forward into a better Canada, taking care of our people, our country and our planet. The second message is that the system we have is broken and needs fixing, and I think that Greens are really the only party that can do that.

I recently ran an ad in Today's Farmer where I tried to balance these two messages. This was to support the positions I took at the agricultural debate in Alvinston on Wednesday. Sometimes, when I point out the flaws of our system, I worry that I come across as negative. That is not my intention. Rather, I think it is important to objectively assess the performance of our parliament and politicians. Often, the objectivity of party messages is suspect, and so we must rely on an informed electorate to be fair in their evaluation and thorough in their investigations.

I point out in my ad that every party present in the last election promised meaningful agricultural change. Of those parties, the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP won a total of 256 seats out of 308 in the House of Commons. Yet still, they could not get together on an issue that they all agree upon, and put something together that would help Canadian farmers. My point is, why repeat that mistake again? Let's not keep doing this over and over again and hope some better outcome.

If we continue to vote the way we've always voted, then we will continue to get the kind of government we've always had.

So that is why the positive message of the Green Party is so important. It is our light at the end of the tunnel. I also believe that the light is closer than we think.