GreenerPolitics

Green Party of Canada Tries Electronic Voting

In October, the Green Party of Canada will be electing its governing council using electronic voting, or e-voting for short. Now while on the surface it seems to be a ‘green choice’ getting away from the paper ballot, cutting down on carbon emissions associated with postage, some within the green party have questioned the veracity of the results and how prone the system would be to electoral tampering. In a two part interview, I talk with the principals of eVote.ca and everyone counts about the election and the longer term potential of electronic voting on democracy.

Larry Franschman, principal of eVote.ca and Craig Burton of Everyone Counts in Australia are responsible for collecting, collating and reporting election results.

Green Party USA: Talking with National Political Director Brent McMillan
Brent Miller is the national political director for the Green Party of the United States. In addition to setting up green parties across the United States, recruiting presidential candidates, he provides local greens with training on how to fight and win elections.

On August 23, I caught him on his way to train the Greens of Tennessee and chatted with him about : What every green should know, fundraising, dealing with the media, getting out the vote and ideas around merchandising and presidential recruitment.

Bottom line: the Green Party needs to work hard to get its message out to voters and the media that is effective and timely; time is of the essence.

Frank De Jong Gets Real!

Frank De Jong Announces Education Platform

Yes to MMP holds Mock Funeral for First-Past-the-Post

Sometimes a picture or video is worth a thousand words.

Blowin’ past the competition

Frank De Jong, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario, kicked off his campaign in true green style. Biking from the steps of Queen’s Park, De Jong passed by the idling NDP Campaign bus to the Subway accompanied by reporters and Ben Polley, Green Party for Guelph. “Over the past couple of months, two policies championed by the Green Party have been undertaken by the Liberals, namely banning toxic cosmetic pesticides and a reduction in taxes on wind turbines,” says Polley. “Simply by being in the campaign, we are impacting the policies of other parties.”
“Some political parties have difficulty with the transitioning to the green principles,” De Jong commented, “we want parties to ‘be real’ if they presume to take on the green color.”

De Jong took the subway to Kipling station, where he started his 100 km trek to Guelph. The Green campaign focuses on walking the walk, biking the bike and driving the drive — with energy efficient, hybrid and biofuel alternatives.

The rest of his 4 day mini-tour will take in much of Southwestern Ontario.