Polished Election Night Story

Carmichael and Supporters await the results of election night and predict the future for the Greens

By: Brock Whitbread

CAMBRIDGE - Although it doesn’t look like Ontario will vote ‘Green’ this election, Colin Carmichael assures Ontario that the Green Party of Ontario is multi-faceted and heading towards victory in the future.

In an election night interview, the candidate for Cambridge and North Dumfries assures his supporters that environmental responsibility is far from the only issue covered by the platform of the Green Party of Ontario.

“We’re a multi-faceted party now and we realize that no issue exists in a vacuum,” says Carmichael, who feels that every issue is interconnected with one another. From education and health care, to the economy and finances, and of course the environment, the Green party has a plan for what needs to change in Ontario and how they’d get there. Carmichael has recognized this Green diversity and is applying it to his riding in Cambridge, Ontario.

One of the biggest issues on Carmichael’s and his party is municipal self-sustenance in the wake of a world plunged into ever-increasing globalization. If elected to provincial parliament, Carmichael plans on implementing a “100 Mile Diet” that involves garrisoning locally grown and harvested crops for use in Cambridge. This, he says, will support local agriculture industry and in turn reduce prices for consumers.

Carmichael would like to see both the Federal and Provincial governments invest monies, like the recent budget surplus, back into the Canadian economy instead of investing in corporations that do not call Canada their home. He would like to see more of an economy of scale in Ontario where investments instead of handouts are given to promote Canadian business and hopefully reduce costs to consumers.

During the course of campaigning, Ontario was hit hard by John Tory’s plan to extend public funding to faith-based schools. The Green Party disagrees with the plan and has put forward a different vision for education in Ontario. “The Green Party of Ontario advocates a move toward a single, publicly funded school system that offers…an inclusive and supportive environment” states the platform of the Party. In the same bold manner Carmichael attacks what he sees as an already unfair system. “Why,” he argues, “should a child attending a public school be cut off from the worldview of a catholic child, or any other worldview of faith or life?”

Although the Greens have pushed their boundaries and entered into discussion on -some of the hot-button issues of the election race, they haven’t forgotten their roots in environmental responsibility. On a provincial scale the Greens are concerned about climate change and increases in greenhouse gas emissions. On a local scale, Carmichael concerns himself with plans for a nearby fossil fuel burning plant set to begin construction soon. No matter the outcome of the vote Carmichael maintains that he “will do everything in [his] power to make this an issue during what is left of this campaign and will continue work against this proposal”.

As far as interconnectedness is concerned, Carmichael believes the public couldn’t be any more affected and, in some cases, any less concerned by what goes on in the natural world. According to this Green Party candidate, there is no issue that goes untouched by the natural world. “The world we live in,” he says, “should easily be the most concerning issue in this year’s election”.

Although admittedly not expecting victory on the provincial or local front, Carmichael is optimistic about the future of his party because as he sees it, Ontarians and Canadians alike are beginning to want the change that the major Party’s aren’t giving.

“The Green party has fresh ideas and fresh ways of thinking; I think those are two things Ontarians are starting to look for in their leaders”.