Editor;
I am writing this letter to all of you to clear up any concerns or any false preconceived ideas that you may have about myself or the BC Green Party.
I would be more than open to meet with any of you for discussion on the reasons why I’ve chosen the Green Party, after being an active member in every other major political party in Canada.
B.C. Green Party candidate for Fraser-Nicola Arthur Green. (photo submitted)
You can find our total party platform online. We — both the BC Greens and the Green Party of Canada — are the only political parties in Canada to post our total party platforms publicly, 24/7/365. Though the two parties are not directly related, we both share the same six basic principles of Greens worldwide: social justice, participatory democracy, ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, non-violence and sustainability.
Contrary to public opinion, we are not a one platform party (tree hugging hippies). In fact, our party platform covers the full range of political policies, something we are very proud of. Basically, we are fiscal conservatives, that lean heavily towards social justice and sustainability.
Because of our strong centre position on the political stage, our approach to party politics is totally different than all other political parties. In fact our approach is so different that we don’t even use Roberts Rules of Order. We’ve created our own system called, Greens Rules of Order. The basic difference between the two systems is in Roberts Rules, 50 per cent plus one are required to pass a motion. In Greens Rules, it’s government by consensus. No motion is passed until there is 100 per cent consensus from the floor. This means that all delegates are heard, give and take is the norm, which produces a healthy style of bargaining. At first it may sound cumbersome, but the best policy always comes out in the end. This system eliminates bullying and stacking, and actually gives incentive for delegates to work in a conciliatory fashion.
It’s against our constitution to bicker in the House, as done by the other mainstream parties in today’s legislative procedure, as you may have witnessed. Because we believe in consensus government, we also believe it’s important that every voice is heard and treated with respect.
Our manner outside the House is also the same. We work with parties of all political stripes for the people, not for the party. Many of my strongest political allies, are politicians that I’ve run against. This has proven to be very successful for constituents, where it has allowed me, in essence, to become a part of other political parties constituency associations, generating and implementing ideas and policy for the greater good.
Something else that you and most voter’s don’t realize, that because of our approach to politics, our policies are far superior to the mainstream parties. There is never an election to go by where the winning party doesn’t steal most of our political agenda. Because we are a movement as well as a political party, we do not have a problem with that, in fact we welcome it.
This is a major reason, why contrary to popular belief, voting Green is not a wasted vote. In fact, it’s like a utility vote, if you vote Green, you are voting for both the winning party, and the opposition, regardless of whoever they may be.
Some of the initiatives that I’m currently working on for the riding are a cultural centre/sound stage for Hope, a moratorium on the dumping of biosolids in the Nicola Valley, construction of solar energy farms throughout the dry belt (Ashcroft and Cache Creek), the implementation of the Cohen Report in regards to the Fraser River sockeye and instituting a national water conservation program.
Now that I have mentioned these initiatives, you can be guaranteed, that the other political parties and agencies, will be adopting them as well, which again, is fine with us. In fact, just this week, I was told by one of our councillors here in Hope, that there will be a major announcement in about three months regarding the initiative that I announced for Hope. I first brought the idea forward about two months ago, and having had discussions with Hope’s economic development agency, I can tell you they are wanting to adopt the idea as their own, and attempting to deflect the idea away from me. Again, this is fine, as long as we get our cultural centre/sound stage, they can take all the credit they like.
As far as the prevention of dumping of biosolids go, though I’ve been actively working on this initiative, most of the credit must go to my NDP counterpart, Aaron Sam, who has really carried the torch on this file, and I’ll do whatever I can to help him move it forward, whether I’m elected or not.
So as you can see, this election and Green Party politics is all about you, and not about me. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. If you would like to get together with me, and chat more about the upcoming election, or just life in general, give me a shout. You can reach me at: (604) 795-1524, or email me at: [email protected]. Thank you.
Art Green,
Candidate for Fraser-Nicola
BC Green Party
