BC elects first Green MLA

GPO leader Mike Schreiner made the following statement on the election of BC’s first Green MLA:

“I want to congratulate Green Party candidate Andrew Weaver for his historic victory in yesterday’s BC election. Andrew is the first Green ever elected in a provincial legislature in Canada.

 

Once again BC voters have made history two years after electing Elizabeth May as Canada’s first Green MP. I am happy and excited for Andrew and everyone pushing for a sustainable future. I know Andrew will seize this moment to be a voice for change in BC, and he will work tirelessly serving his constituents in Oak Bay–Gordon Head.

 

I also want to commend Leader Jane Sterk and all BC Green candidates for a strong campaign. The Green movement in Canada is growing stronger.

 

Mr. Weaver’s election is an inspiration for the Green Party of Ontario. GPO members are already working hard to bring change to Ontario by electing our first Green MPP to Queen’s Park.”

Green Party being frozen out of events

Community behind Green Leader run in Guelph

Community behind Green Leader run in Guelph

Schreiner will put Guelph first at Queen’s Park

Guelph, ON - Surrounded by community members and supporters from across the province, GPO leader Mike Schreiner today kicked off his campaign to represent Guelph as Ontario's first Green MPP.

 

“Guelph is the most forward looking community in Ontario. We need to bring the kind of leadership this community shows to Queen’s Park,” says Schreiner. “As MPP for Guelph, I will put the people of Guelph ahead of partisan political games. I will not play politics as usual.”

 

"We are at a crossroads in Ontario," says Schreiner. "Successive NDP, PC and Liberal governments have failed to tackle the big challenges. We now face financial, environmental and democratic deficits. Ontario deserves better. Guelph deserves better.”

 

Schreiner’s run in Guelph also has the support of Canada’s first Green MP, Elizabeth May. “Mike Schreiner will make a great MPP. Queens Park is suffering from a distressing lack of fresh ideas and cooperation in the public interest," says May. "As Leader of the GPO, he will be heard. As the first Green MPP in Ontario, he will bring new ideas to the table. The people of Guelph have a unique opportunity to put themselves -- and the province -- first by electing Mike Schreiner.”

 

Schreiner, a 43-year old father of two, started his career in the Guelph region as an entrepreneur and advocate in the local food movement. As co-founder of WOW Foods, an award winning local organic food delivery company, Schreiner worked for over 10 years to connect local farmers with consumers and to foster strong local economies.

 

Following in the footsteps of Elizabeth May’s election last year, Guelph is well poised to make history and elect Ontario’s first Green MPP. 

 

Schreiner is standing for nomination at a meeting that will take place December 4th at 7:30pm at Innovation Guelph. 

 

Dalton McGuinty Privatizing Public Land

Toronto, August 27, 2012 - Premier Dalton McGuinty and Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli are dismissing petitions and hundreds of Ontarians' letters, and selling public land to condo developers.

Concerned citizens will gather for a rally at Queen's Park on Wednesday, August 29th, at 5:00 p.m. to demand Dalton McGuinty save green space from more condos.

Residents and voters in the riding of Toronto Centre ask:  Why is the government of Ontario selling land at 11 Wellesley Street West for new condos when Toronto Centre is already seeing unprecedented condo development?  Why are Premier McGuinty and Minister Chiarelli listening to developers and ignoring the community?  Why is Infrastructure Ontario ignoring Toronto City Council’s unanimous approval of the motion of July 11, 2012 to discuss with the Government of Ontario the future of the East of Bay Lands?

"Places to grow gross density intensification targets, for Toronto urban growth centres, are 400 residents and jobs combined per hectare by 2031," says Norm Waite, president of the Bay Cloverhill Community Association. "Our neighbourhood’s current density is 708 residents and jobs. That’s twice the prescribed density, twenty years early.”

"We have been clear in our letters and our petitions: the community needs green space," says Norm Waite. "Why is McGuinty ignoring his fellow citizens?”

EVENT:  Rally to Save Green Space from More Condos
DATE & TIME: Wednesday August 29, 2012 5pm
Assemble: Queen’s Park North Statue of King Edward on Horse
Route: From Queen’s Park North to 11 Wellesley St West via Ontario Legislature
Neighbourhood residents and workers, families, and all those who value green space over concrete, are invited to make sure your voices are heard.

Long-term solutions should be priority over scoring short-term political points

Queen’s Park -  Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner is committed to holding the government accountable for its focus on scoring short-term political points, rather than seeking long-term solutions. The GPO is urging the government to act on three important issues during this session.
Fair Schools
The GPO is challenging the McGuinty government to stop attacking teachers and to work with teachers to find savings. Instead of closing the door to talks about modernizing Ontario’s school system, the government should take a serious look at the advantages of moving to one school board.

“McGuinty should be in a room with teachers, looking for solutions to the crisis in our educational system, rather than pushing through his political agenda,” says GPO Leader Mike Schreiner. “This undemocratic attack on Ontario’s educational staff will not be the last, unless we start a discussion on ending wasteful duplication in our current school system.”

Studies from independent organizations show Ontario could save $1.3 to $1.6 billion by moving towards a single English and French public school board.

Ontarians First
Instead of politically motivated election promises, the GPO supports policies and investments that will increase efficiency, spur innovation, and lead to sustainability for Ontario. Schreiner cited the cancellation of the Mississauga gas plant, the off shore wind moratorium and the new Highway 7 announcement in Kitchener-Waterloo as costly, unplanned examples of short-term thinking that puts political party interest ahead of good public policy.

“I am committed to providing principled, positive and practical solutions and practicing a new kind of politics that moves beyond cynical political games,” says Schreiner. “Transportation and infrastructure initiatives like new highways need careful planning and shouldn't be part of an election-promises goodie bag.”

Love it Protect it
The GPO will continue it efforts to protect Ontario’s most treasured natural assets. The GPO is currently petitioning the government to make Wolf Lake in Temagami a provincial park, is fighting to protect prime farmland and clean water from quarries, and is pushing for a sustainable development plan that respects First Nation’s rights in the Ring of Fire.

“The GPO will fight to protect our valuable natural assets,” pledges Schreiner. “We raised the alarm about threats to environmental protections in the budget and will continue to push forward policies that enrich our natural assets.”

Ontario GSA Coalition Rally

Stop subsidizing energy, support lower income families, and invest in energy efficiency

Anti-Bill 13 Protest & Counter Protest

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner comments on 2012 Ontario budget

Ontario government fails to deliver solutions for protecting clean water, land and natural heritage

Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner accused the government of cheap talk and no action on pressing environmental issues that affect our communities and our quality of life.

The Environment Commissioner Ontario’s (ECO) annual report raises serious concerns about the government’s failure to divert waste, protect species at risk and clean up the Great Lakes.

 

The ECO report shows that waste diversion in the industrial, commercial and institutional sector has remained constant for a decade.  With a diversion rate of 23 percent, the province has failed miserably to meet its 60 percent diversion target.

 

“The Liberal government is dragging their feet on incentives that will reduce waste and save money,” says Schreiner.  “We need to take pressure off landfills and municipal budgets. Industry should pay for the waste it produces, not property taxpayers.”

 

Greens part of Moving Planet

This weekend, Canadian Greens will be taking part in a global movement to make the shift away from fossil fuels as part of our effort to solve the climate crisis.  Moving Planet, spearheaded by 350.org, is a worldwide rally, with thousands of events taking place in countries across the globe. 

Canadian Green Climate Change Critic Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu will be speaking at the Moving Planet event in Toronto's Queen's Park, along with local Green provincial candidate Mark Daye.  “We are highlighting the importance of green energy, a key issue here in Ontario,” said Mugnatto-Hamu.  “But even more than that, we are highlighting how many Canadians are part of this movement and are ready to take action.”

Deputy Green Leader Adriane Carr will also speak at an event in Vancouver.  “Canadians realize that we need to start the transition to a lower-carbon way of life and we are asking for governments and industry to join with us in taking meaningful action to achieve that goal,” said Carr.

Arctic and Northern Affairs Critic John Streicker is pleased more attention is finally being paid to climate change, an issue that hits close to home.  “We in the North have been seeing the impacts of climate change for many years and are continually taking action, including helping low income community members to bring down their energy costs.  Individual action is key and when we have a global mass action like Moving Planet, we see the power that can come from banding together.”

Rally to support defunding of Ontario's Catholic schools amassed a small but impassioned turnout.

Green Party of ON Candidate Mark Daye at GSA Rally

By Kelli Korducki

“Ontario Can’t Afford Religious Discrimination” read the banner behind the speaker’s podium at Sunday afternoon’s Canadian Secular Alliance rally to protest public funding of Catholic schools. The costs, as a spirited roster of speakers told a quietly attentive audience outside the Ontario Legislature, are as financial as they are moral. Education Equality in Ontario president Leonard Baak pointed out that institutional duplication means that each Catholic school system student costs $515 more to educate than his or her secular counterpart.

Maybe pragmatic arguments weren’t necessary to sway this small crowd of roughly 100 attendees, many of whom stood toting signs demanding the cessation of faith-based bigotry (and wearing T-shirts gently reminding the world that “Some chicks marry other chicks. Get over it.”). But numbers and dollar signs certainly don’t hurt in lending additional heft to arguments rooted in emotions.

And the emotions were undeniable. Toronto Centre Green Party of Ontario candidate Mark Daye shared a personal account of his previous life as a closeted newlywed and guilt-ridden Catholic who, when he went to his parish priest with a heartfelt plea for guidance, was instructed to pray the gay away. It didn’t work. “The advice that I received, is this the kind of advice that our students need and deserve?”

Read the full story at Torontoist

Green Party candidate Mark Daye at GSA rally, Queens Park

Rally to support GSA at Catholic schools.

The Canadian Secular Alliance held a rally at Queen's Park today to support gay/straight alliances in publicly funded Catholic schools has received endorsements from comedians Rick Mercer, Gavin Crawford, and Elvira Kurt.


Four Green Party of Ontario Candidates attended and three spoke; Mark Daye from Toronto Centre, Tim Grant, Trinity-Spadina, Frank DeJong, Davenport and Justin Trottier, Parkdale High Park.

"This rally is about supporting the rights of students," says spokesperson Kevin Smith. "It is not anti-religious." Some groups were discouraged from attending after making statements deriding religious groups.

A broad spectrum of guest speakers will discuss related issues, including ending tax privileges afforded to separate school systems in Ontario, and provincial educational equity policies that favour religious dogma.

"In addition to the violation of human rights, the province cannot afford over $500 million every year to fund a separate school system for a single religious group," Smith says.

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/11/09/m1920222/rally-supporting-gaystraight-alliances-attracts-attention-and-support#ixzz1YLOAPBQh

Rally to support GSA's in Catholic Schools! Please come.

Green Party set to launch largest election campaign ever on Wednesday September 7th

Joined by candidates, shadow cabinet critics and supporters, Mike Schreiner will launch the Green Party’s 2011 election campaign from Queen's Park on Wednesday September 7th.  The Green Party was the first provincial party to launch their platform on May 24, offering a bold vision for building a financially, socially and environmentally sustainable Ontario. 

Capitalizing on the momentum from electing the first Green MP in Canadian history, the Green Party of Ontario plans to address major issues currently confrontingOntarians including tackling rising energy costs, the difficult job market, and access to quality health care.

What: Mike Schreiner will launch the Green Party of Ontario 2011 Election Campaign

When: Wednesday September 7th, 2011

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Where:  Legislative Grounds, Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON

Bells On Bloor; June 18th

Bells on Bloor is back - for the 5th time!! Ring out for bike lanes on Bloor! Each of the last 2 rides brought out 2000 cyclists! Don't miss it.

This fun and empowering ride is happening this year on:
Sat. June 18 meeting at High Park and proceeding again to Queen’s Park along Bloor street.

Join a large throng of young and old cyclists for a joy ride along Bloor in support of Bloor bike lanes. A police escort makes it safe for children. Please join us, and bring friends - the more the merrier.

If High Park is too far, join us en route at:
- SE Bloor@ Dundas St. W.
- South side of Bloor@ Gladstone
- South side of Bloor@ Christie Pits

New feature this year: Ward 13 TCU will be leading a ride back to the High Park Area (Runnymede PS), with drop off points along the way.

Arranged by Bells on Bloor, Take the Tooker, Ward 13 Bikes/TCU

For more info: bloorbikeride@gmail.com
www.bellsonbloor.ca
www.takethetooker.ca

Here's the video my husband made of last years ride;

What is the Liberal government going to do to ensure complete streets in Ontario?

What is the Liberal government going to do to ensure complete streets in Ontario?

Slut Walk Toronto

Click on the image to view full sized.

Mike Schreiner at Queens Park: March 2, 2010

Mike Schreiner speaking about agent orange and the greenbelt legislation at Queen's Park on March 2, 2010