Dale Dewar, Regina-Qu’Appelle Green Party of Canada Green

I would really like to continue the many conversations that this site has provoked but i need to quit advertising myself as "candidate for Regina-Qu'Appelle". Bill and I were "episodic" Green Party supporters - not because we opposed the Party - we supported Elizabeth May from Nova Scotia Sierra Club days - but more because we had been burned by party politics and had difficulty engaging. Bill and I became interested in running for the Greens in the 2016 provincial election. ...He would run the campaign and I would run. We had quite a bit of fun touring "our" constituency during the summer of 2015. I ran for the provincial Greens in March, six months after Bill died. When faced with an election fall of 2019 in Andrew Scheer's riding, I actually had to take out membership in order to accept a nomination (after twisting Greg & JoAnne's arms) to run. I would have gone crazy without the focus but it was hard. What have I learned? That I would not do it again without a healthy shield of volunteers who actually ran the show. I was worn out driving, meeting, packing suitcases, writing, talking, reading and so on. I'm still in recovery! So, can I change from "Candidate for R-Q" to "Supporter, Green Party of Canada"?

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/sfu-professor-occupies-treetops-to-pr A friend and colleague is putting his body where many of us put our mouths! K-M is largely symbolic (yes, it is probably safer to pipe petroleum than to rail it but that isn't our issue) - do we or do we not support expansion of the petroleum industry? This act is an expansion - from more oil products to more congested shipping encroaching upon whale habitat - it is environmentally insane. Climate science says that we shouldn't expand the petroleum industry. So we shouldn't.

The government says that it must honour the sales of military equipment to the Saudis, a sales agreement dating back to 2014 under the Harper government. Worth $15 billion over 15 years. General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) of London, Ont won the contract. A second contract (or an updated agreement? seems to have happened under the Liberals. Canceling the sales would probably leave a lot of people out of work - GDLS employs 3000. It would probably not have much effect upon t...he Saudis except to underline the moral issue of a) bombing an already poverty stricken nation into rubble; b) torturing and killing a journalist and ferrying his body out of the Saudi embassy in Turkey; c) profiting from this entire travesty including support for one of the most totalitarian and backward regimes in the world (treatment of women, public hangings and beheadings - blood is on our hands.) I have questions: The money flows from the Saudis to General Dynamics Land Systems and the feds reap the taxes which they can add to their coffers and do great things for Canadians? People/companies/corporations invested in GDLS get a piece of the pie, the amount of which becomes taxable by the feds? so its a win-win for the feds? Are there any direct connections between anyone in government and GDLS and its subsidiaries? Can we know who the investors are? Does General Dynamics Land Systems receive any government subsidies? How many people does it employ? https://www.theglobeandmail.com//article-in-the-midst-of-/

Public transportation should be free. This is not a particularly radical idea (A list of cities which provide some or all of their public transportation free is here: https://freepublictransport.info/city/. Nor is it complete - Helsinki provides free transit for anyone pushing or carrying babies, for example. Many European cities permit students to travel fare-free. An article in the scientific journal "Transport Policy" calls fares a "tax on the poor" concluding that it "go...uges oppressed people the most". Drivers are supported by the tax dollars that go into roads and infrastructure (traffic lights, underpasses, policing and the subsidizing of petroleum products. Furthermore, if you don't pay a fare on the Toronto system you'd be subject to a $425 fine while the average parking ticket (representing an unpaid transportation fee) is $30. "Transport poverty" contributes negatively to the ability to access employment, health care and grocery shopping. It even impacts people's ability to participate in the political process. Apparently Canada has the greatest greenhouse gas production per person of all the G20 countries and private vehicles are among the greatest contributors to global warming. Some progressive steps have been taken - Calgary has initiated a sliding scale for bus passes and the downtown portion of light rail is fare free. (Thanks to its remarkable mayor.) But much more could happen.

Opposition to vaccinations has been growing, largely spurred on by a triumvirate of "anti-vaxxers" - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Andrew Wakefield, Del Bigtree - all of which command upwards of $10,000 a pop for speaking at public events. Several of my close friends were (and some still are) not vaccinating their children - and I was on the fence, especially when Shauna developed a big swollen arm from her first vaccination. She didn't receive any more until I was faced with putti...ng a breathing tube down the trachea of an unvaccinated child with diphtheria. The child's two siblings were also hospitalized and one died. I didn't go home that night. Vaccinations are a difficult commitment - they hurt most children and the minor side effects are unpleasant. Most people have had no experience with the diseases they prevent. I would venture to guess that most people decide not to vaccinate their children on an "omission bias" - rather not hurt their children or run any further risks in the present, later reading the anti-vax literature. While I believe in the fully informed right to choose, I am concerned that charlatans are directing false information for their personal advantage.