"Quick Fix" or the "Long Haul"?
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The next provincial election will soon be upon us and a lot of folks
will be discussing where they should cast their vote. Some will argue
that we should pool our votes into the "lessor of two evils",
and vote Liberal. Others will say that we should support the "progressive"
party with a chance at winning and vote NDP. Still others will say
we should pick and choose individuals with slightly better environmental
records, as selected by the League of Environmental Voters.
I think that all of these are bad choices. If you really support the
environment, you should vote for the Green Party.
The problem with the "lessor of two evils" is that even
if you win, you get stuck with an "evil". If you buy the
argument that only the Liberals and Conservatives can form a government
and therefore are the only parties that deserve your vote, you lock
yourself into all the problems that come from a two-party system.
Look to the South if you want to see what that means. The Democrats
know that blacks and liberals have traditionally had nowhere else
to go, which means that their policies are all based on aping the
Republicans in order to draw enough swing voters to form a government.
The result is that no matter who gets elected, right-wing policies
get put into place. (In my home town the Liberal candidate quit the
Tories to run for the nomination---what does that say to you?)
And if you think that the NDP has earned the credentials to be the
"party of choice" among environmentalists, think again.
Really saving the environment is going to involve a lot more than
the odd Band-Aid stuck onto the existing economic mess. It is going
to involve a radical rejigging of our society's values and aspirations.
Is there anything in the NDP platform that doesn't actually turn out
to be a "kinder, gentler" serving of business as usual?
Just because your heart is in the "right place" doesn't
mean that you have really thought through the implications of the
environmental crisis.
The strategy of using Political Action Committees (PACs), like the
League of Environmental Voters, if it works, sets an extremely dangerous
precedent.
I say "if it works", because the parliamentary system that
we have in Ontario has taken so much power away from the hands of
individual MPPs that I find it very hard to believe that any politician
who won on the basis of support by the League would ever be foolish
enough to vote his conscience instead of what the Premier and his
hired staff tell him to do. Of course, he could argue that he will
have some impact in caucus meetings, but they are secret so no one
would ever know how he actually voted. Either way, it is increasingly
obvious that Ontario Premiers pay very little attention to their back
benchers.
If the League actually does develop some influence, anti- environmental
groups will set up PACs too. And, as the American experience shows,
when it comes to leaning on politicians, industry has a lot more muscle
than mere environmentalists. So if people do support the League of
Environmental Voters instead of building the Green Party, the long-term
consequences for the environment would probably be catastrophic.
No, there are no "quick fixes" when it comes to saving Mother
Nature. We need to build a new political movement that changes the
way we collectively view the environment. Unless we make that supreme
effort, the environment will always remain a frill that governments
will only pay attention to once the economy is running smoothly, the
tax cuts have been given out, and all the social programs are running
smoothly. If we follow that prescription, there will be precious little
left for future generations and our generation will have proven ourselves
morally and spiritually bankrupt.
Instead, we are going to have to roll up our shirt sleeves, knock
on doors, cut cheques, polish up our speeches, and build the Green
Party in Ontario into a serious electoral machine. The experience
around the world is that if we develop a sufficient level of commitment
and professionalism, more and more voters will support the Green vision.
Countries all around the world have shown us the way: from Germany,
to New Zealand through the USA to our own British Columbia---the Greens
are the most international, fastest-growing political movement in
the world. Let's all work hard to make Ontario the next place where
a Green party scores a "break through"!
---for the OGN
Issue
1, Volume 1