When I canvassed for the Green Party in the federal election two years ago, many folks said they wanted to vote Green, but felt they had to vote Stephen Harper out. Fair enough. Many said, “But I will vote Green in the 2017 provincial election.”
Well, there is no better time to vote Green in this riding, because this election is different. In this very “green lifestyle” riding of ours, let your values guide your vote. As David Suzuki and Green Party candidate Kim Charlesworth told a crowd of close to 500 people on Sunday in Nelson, Greens will start the conversation in Victoria that promotes tomorrow’s economy built on today’s environmental reality. Renewable energy creates between four and seven times more jobs than the oil and gas industries. Studies from the past five years have shown this fact. For a start, keep the expert oil, gas and mining workers employed (for years!) reclaiming the oil, gas and mine fields, which have in the past been neglected after extraction, and left to taxpayers to clean up, if at all.
I would love to see British Columbia join other jurisdictions in the new green economy. It’s perfectly legitimate to vote Green, and it’s perfectly possible that the Greens could wind up holding the balance of power in a minority government.
Leaving the fossil fuel age to enter the age of renewables is an exciting time in history. And it’s not entering the unknown. Other countries are leading the way to clean energy, with thriving economies. It is also the responsible step to take, given the fact that we humans have created the current anthropocene epoch, one in which we’ve transformed the physical, chemical and biological integrity of the earth, like never before. Let’s start turning around our energy trends, and become proud of our human effect.
Lisa Bramson
Nelson