tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21789427.post2547890974705428135..comments2023-11-03T07:30:29.008-06:00Comments on Cameron Wigmore, Green Party Member: Green Party Leader Sets The Pace For Climate Change DebateUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21789427.post-68126061325695393212007-05-10T22:48:00.000-06:002007-05-10T22:48:00.000-06:00Comments on Green leader were completely misleadin...<A HREF="http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=522311&catname=Editorial&classif=" REL="nofollow">Comments on Green leader were completely misleading - Letter to the Editor - The Barrie Examiner</A><BR/><BR/>(Re: "Keep global warming debate focused on issues" in the May 8 edition of the Examiner)<BR/><BR/>My grandfather survived 11 years in Nazi concentration camps, so I am no fan of casual references to the Holocaust. Therefore, I am very disappointed that your paper has fallen into the cycle of misrepresentation of Green Party leader Elizabeth May's remarks in London last week.<BR/><BR/>Ms. May did not even mention the Holocaust. Rather, she reported on the black mark on Canada's international reputation which has been made by our government blatantly turning its back on our Kyoto commitments.She quoted George Monbiot, noted British journalist and author, who in his speech at the recent Toronto Green Living Show, compared Harper's refusal to address global warming with Chamberlain's appeasement policy toward Nazi Germany, and singled out Canada as one of the three worst offenders. The world is taking note of our negligence; we need to know what is being said about us, not pretend we still wear a shining halo.<BR/><BR/><I>(snip)</I><BR/><BR/>This has nothing to do with the Holocaust. In fact, Prince Charles recently made exactly the same analogy - that the struggle to transform our economy to sustainability will be as great as the struggle to win the Second World War. So is our future Sovereign offensive, or lacking decency? Certainly not. He, like May and the Green Party, recognizes the seriousness of our situation and the cost of inaction.<BR/><BR/>Mr. Harper has deliberately distorted this to smear the opposition and draw attention away from the failings of his own government on the environment and Afghanistan files. He has gone so far as to attack Ms. May in the Commons, where she is unable to defend herself. All the more reason for her to win a seat in the House, so such unfair mudslinging can no longer go unanswered.<BR/><BR/>Erich Jacoby-Hawkins<BR/><BR/>Green Party of Canada<BR/><BR/>Barriecamsax@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06674088043146569577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21789427.post-51825021954352330322007-05-07T08:41:00.000-06:002007-05-07T08:41:00.000-06:00Cameron, I think most people get what May stated. ...Cameron, I think most people get what May stated. Yes, we realize that she did not directly compare anyone to a Nazi. However, her statement was the ultimate in preachy. From her pulpit, she stated that taking a moderate approach on global warming is the equivalent of comprising with Nazis. That comes across as needlessly arrogant to me and she even invoked Jesus in her talk. <BR/><BR/>I don't believe that guilting Canadians is the correct approach and, as such, saying that May said nothing wrong doesn't seem good enough. She needs to generate her message in a more positive manner, if she has that ability.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21789427.post-47012873929868768612007-05-05T12:12:00.000-06:002007-05-05T12:12:00.000-06:00May attack is politically orchestrated - Hamilton ...<A HREF="http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1014656316146&c=Article&cid=1178341476708" REL="nofollow">May attack is politically orchestrated - Hamilton Spectator</A><BR/><BR/><I>By Anton Volcansek, Stoney Creek<BR/>The Hamilton Spectator<BR/>(May 5, 2007)</I><BR/><BR/>Re: Elizabeth May<BR/><BR/>To charge that Green Party leader Elizabeth May is equating the Conservatives with the Nazis is an outrageous twisting of her words and her intent. The grandstanding moral indignation of the government and Opposition smacks of political gamesmanship. It's time our elected members stopped playing games and got on with the business of governing.<BR/><BR/>May said nothing wrong. She did not claim that Neville Chamberlain was a Nazi. I don't think there's any historian out there who claims he was. He was misguided and tragically mistaken in thinking that appeasing the Nazis was in Great Britain's best interests.<BR/><BR/>Like Chamberlain, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is misguided and tragically mistaken if he thinks climate change is not to be taken seriously. He also doesn't seem to take Canada's involvement in torture seriously, but that is another matter.<BR/><BR/>In referencing writer George Monbiot's speech at the Green Living Show in Toronto, May mentioned Harper's "culpability" in not doing enough to combat climate change. Monbiot should be taken to task if anyone wants to challenge his view that world leaders who drag their feet on climate change will, in the eyes of history, prove more culpable than Chamberlain in his attempt to appease the Nazis.<BR/><BR/>The brouhaha and calling for May's head in Parliament by the various party leaders is a politically orchestrated overreaction to what she said. The sitting parties, threatened by the Green Party's ever-growing popularity, are attacking May's character, because they can't touch her where it counts -- on the key issues of the environment, health and the economy.<BR/><BR/>If anything, this attention is one more acknowledgement by the sitting parties of the Green Party's legitimacy and one more reason to include May in any future party leader debates.camsax@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06674088043146569577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21789427.post-6216883346980151742007-05-03T13:14:00.000-06:002007-05-03T13:14:00.000-06:00Toronto Star - Uncommonly Nasty Commons May 03, 2...<A HREF="http://www.thestar.com/Unassigned/article/210005" REL="nofollow">Toronto Star - Uncommonly Nasty Commons</A><BR/><BR/> May 03, 2007 04:30 AM<BR/>Susan Delacourt<BR/>Ottawa Bureau Chief<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>OTTAWA–It's happened twice this week in the Commons – Team Canada hockey captain Shane Doan and Green Leader Elizabeth May have been turned into targets over remarks they say they didn't make.<BR/><BR/>And they're just the latest casualties in a campaign of vilification that's running rampant in the Commons right now: Government critics are accused of being against Canadian troops or supporters of the Taliban, Doan is accused of being anti-French, and May of being dismissive of the Holocaust.<BR/><BR/>Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas, a journalistic thorn in the side of President George W. Bush, is in Ottawa today to mark Press Freedom Day, and she'll be warning Canadians to resist getting dragged down to this level of political debate.<BR/><BR/>"It's déjà vu all over again," Thomas said of the Conservatives' attacks on their critics, explaining that it's a standard Bush technique to question the patriotism or values of his detractors. "I wouldn't think that would happen in Canada," she said in an interview yesterday.<BR/><BR/>Thomas, 86, a columnist for the Hearst newspaper syndicate, said she is also going to urge the Canadian media today to keep asking pointed questions of Harper, who has been entering and exiting the Commons through a back door for more than a week now, avoiding cameras and reporters.<BR/><BR/>During Commons question period, the Tories have answered questions with increasingly ferocious attacks on Liberals and their allies, such as May.<BR/><BR/><I>(snip)</I><BR/><BR/>May has been castigated for two days by Harper and the Tories for remarks she made last weekend, linking climate-change inaction to appeasement strategies toward Germany before World War II. She was quoting from British environmentalist author George Monbiot, who told a Toronto green-living conference last weekend that Harper, Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard represented the "axis of evil of climate change."<BR/><BR/>May had a sinking feeling on Tuesday that it was already too late to make clear she hadn't compared Conservatives to Nazis or minimized the Holocaust, as the Canadian Jewish Congress was asserting. May said she was reminded of the old quote: "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."<BR/><BR/><I>(snip)</I><BR/><BR/>The Commons doesn't seem to have a mechanism to correct mistruths or exaggerations. Utterances in the chamber are not subject to libel or slander laws because MPs are supposed to be free to speak there. An MP can make a "point of privilege" to complain he's been wronged, but non-MPs May and Doan have no recourse.<BR/><BR/>What's most worrying is that it doesn't seem to matter whether allegations are true anymore when they're made in the Commons – and that most of the time, it's the government, not the opposition as one might expect, on constant attack mode.<BR/><BR/>In recent months, Harper has twice levelled accusations about dark Liberal motives, based on flimsy or twisted information. He accused former Liberal cabinet minister Lucienne Robillard and MP Marlene Jennings of appointing their husbands to the Immigration and Refugee Board. Both men – in Robillard's case, an ex-husband – were on the IRB before the women entered federal politics.<BR/><BR/><I>(snip)</I><BR/><BR/>Halton Liberal MP Garth Turner, a former Conservative, just laughed yesterday in the Commons when the Tories answered a question about high gas prices with talk about a Liberal "conspiracy." Turner's own question about income trusts was turned into an attack on his floor-crossing.<BR/><BR/>"I don't remember this kind of dysfunctional question period, ever," said Turner, who served in the Brian Mulroney government in the 1980s and as a cabinet minister under Kim Campbell briefly in the 1990s.<BR/><BR/>"It's a very, very partisan, very political government," Turner said. "They're a little down in the polls right now, they're extremely defensive, they're fighting back tooth and nail."<BR/><BR/>Thomas said she is sorry that political debate in Canada contains echoes of the Bush White House. "When they suck up to American presidents, they're in trouble. I like them better when they defy us," she said.camsax@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06674088043146569577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21789427.post-6306060104952243442007-05-02T20:06:00.000-06:002007-05-02T20:06:00.000-06:00Cameron,I too received the "talking points" memo f...Cameron,<BR/><BR/>I too received the "talking points" memo from John Chenery earlier today. What was rather apparent to me is that there was no direct apology to me or anyone else within the GP who may have been offended by these comments, in or out of context. <BR/><BR/>I am pleased to see some GP members are speaking out against this rhetoric at the GP site, finally. See <A HREF="http://greenparty.ca/en/node/1515#comment-939" REL="nofollow">here.</A><BR/><BR/>Some issues should go beyond partisan politics and spin. If the leader f***ed up, she should just admit it, and try to learn to control the unnecessary rhetoric, to avoid similar occurences in the future.The Anonymous Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13066235987709378052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21789427.post-67497932499713383802007-05-02T17:10:00.000-06:002007-05-02T17:10:00.000-06:00Other recent stories on this subject:http://thechr...Other recent stories on this subject:<BR/><BR/>http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/832914.html<BR/><BR/>...and...<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/05/02/may-controversy.html" REL="nofollow">Harper 'fanning flames' of controversy, says May - CBC</A><BR/><BR/>Green Party Leader Elizabeth May fired back at Prime Minister Stephen Harper Wednesday, accusing him of fanning the flames of controversy to distract people from criticism of his environmental plan.<BR/><BR/>May has been in the headlines for comments she made on the weekend that compared the government's approach to climate change to former British prime minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis.<BR/><BR/>Speaking on CBC Newsworld, May said the comparison was not her own, but came from British journalist and author George Monbiot.<BR/><BR/>May said she included it in her address in order to illustrate international opinion of Canada.<BR/><BR/>"In citing that, what I was saying was, 'Look how far Canada's reputation has fallen, look at how the world is now looking at us for violating our international commitments on Kyoto,'" she said.<BR/><BR/>"I thought that was worth Canadians knowing."<BR/><BR/><B>PM desperate to distract: May</B><BR/>Harper raised the issue during question period on Tuesday, saying May's remarks drew criticism from the Canadian Jewish Congress.<BR/><BR/>He also invited Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who recently reached a deal with May not to run candidates against each other in their respective ridings, to distance himself from the Green leader.<BR/><BR/>May said Harper and Environment Minister John Baird are "fanning this into something I didn't say."<BR/><BR/>"I never drew any comparisons or diminished the Holocaust in any way. I would never do such a thing," said May.<BR/><BR/>"It's a desperate effort to distract attention from [Ottawa's] own abdication of responsibility in choosing not to even try to reach Kyoto targets."<BR/><BR/>May said Dion likely didn't know what she actually said in her weekend address at the London, Ont., church when he called on her to withdraw the comment.<BR/><BR/><B>May stands by comment</B><BR/>May blamed the London Free Press, which covered her address, for what she said was a failure to mention that she noted she was quoting Monbiot.<BR/><BR/>In its April 30 report, the newspaper wrote: "Borrowing a quote she said was made by a foreign dignitary about Prime Minister Stephen Harper, May said his stance on climate change 'represents a grievance worse than Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis.'"<BR/><BR/>May said she stands by the "appropriateness of quoting George Monbiot."<BR/><BR/>"I do not think what I said in any way is inflammatory," said May. "I think it was the misreporting that led some to dive for cover."<BR/><BR/>Prince Charles and British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett recently likened the need to fight climate change to Britain's efforts during the Second World War, said May.<BR/><BR/>"This is the central issue of our time, whether we are able to take up our responsibility … to protect future generations," she said.<BR/><I>(snip)</I>camsax@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06674088043146569577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21789427.post-61437449328487536692007-05-02T15:00:00.000-06:002007-05-02T15:00:00.000-06:00Whooee! Good boogin', CamFeller. I reckon there's ...Whooee! Good boogin', CamFeller. I reckon there's a whole buncha paleo-partisans pouncin' on Lizzie May every dang chance they get. Polyticks as usual.<BR/><BR/>I figger our gal Liz is gonna come out on top o' this one. Them crybaby ConMen is already lookin' like whiners who love dishin' it out but ain't never apologized fer squat -- an' they had stuff they oughta 'pologize fer.<BR/><BR/>Pore ol' Jack Laydown ain't lookin' so happy-smiley these days. That's a good catch on the "We'd never..." Ha!!<BR/><BR/>JimBobbyJimBobbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04603665575714484326noreply@blogger.com