Greens Believe

It was a busy day Thursday for Team Green. It started with a 1 on 1 interview with CHEX TV's Graham Hart. The highlight of the interview was when he suggested after attending Monday night's debate, he found my delivery of Green ideas and campaign style refreshing!!! He had never seen a candidate defend another candidate before. He was referring to my defense of Dean as a person, while suggesting "he seems like a nice guy, he's just working for the wrong team!" Graham also made my day by suggesting he thought I was in my early 30's!! lol "50 in a few months Graham!"
Later in the day I had a great interview with Sarah Deeth. As well as needling me for party policy and platform, she also took a moment to get to know me and about family and things I believe in. The same was afforded each candidate and will make for some interesting reading.
At 6:00pm it was off to Strutt Modeling Agency where Greens showed up to have their pictures taken wearing our Made in Canada bamboo "Think Green" T-shirts. The photos will be used in a number of print and poster campaigns around the area. We also shot some video which will be edited and posted to youtube for sharing! Somke iphone snaps have been uploaded to facebook.com/michaelbellmichaelbell
All in all, a great day of getting the Vision Green out to folks and solidifying support with the ever growing number of people who see the Green way as the right way (as evidenced by the growing number of signs around the city).

It's Friday am and I've just returned from an all candidates at St Peter's high school. Many young greens in the crowd. The future looks so bright, I'll have to wear shades!

I'm off the local campaign trail for the rest of day, heading to Huntsville to MC tonight's Green Party of Ontario Annual Convention opening dinner and ceremonies. Back at it Saturday, with canvassing and an appearance in the fashion show fundraiser at Peterborough Sq for Community Living.

Always remember, Green Means Go!

Wednesday; A Night of Canvassing

Wednesday night was a good night of canvassing in East City. We met many who were curious about the Greens and many who were disappointed with the debate and lack of a Green voice. Many suggested they were voting Green for that very reason; to send a message that a party with 950,000 votes should not be excluded from a nation leader's debate, especially when the Bloc has been allowed. We also had great luck getting our signs on lawns as almost everyone we spoke to asked or allowed us to post as a symbol of support. We even managed to share a few lawns with our Conservative candidate.
I'm continually inspired by the support and the hard work our volunteers are doing getting the message out.With a very small budget, in comparison to the "big 3", the grass roots conversations and signals of support are more important than ever.

What a week

As you can see by the date on the last post, it's been hard to take the time to sit down and share what has been going on.

Greens were good to go as of last Monday when we got the call from our Returning Officer. Print was ordered and activity began. Tuesday the core team got together and began putting into motion our plan to share The Green Party Platform "Vision Green" with the people of Peterborough. A lively debate on Cogeco on Tuesday allowed me to begin doing just that. Green common sense ideas contrasted against the "business as usual approach" of the Blue, Red and Orange. It was also good to see planks being borrowed from our platform. The Conservatives have suggested income splitting, while the NDP would end subsidizing large corporations. Both Green ideas that have been posted online for years.

A Wednesday morning breakfast w/ Rotarians, introducing many of them to the Green Party for the first time. That afternoon it was another lively debate at Trent University. A tough crowd for the Conservatives, The Greens and the Liberals took the day. Some canvassing for support and social media campaigning, interviews and planning on the Thursday.

Friday Night was our official launch at Kubo. Folks started arriving by 6 and by 7 the "green party" was in full swing. Students and seniors, business people and consumers, activists and inquisitors of various political colours attended. Special thanks to local media icons Lois Tuffin Ed. PTW and Clifford Skarstedt Examiner Senior photo journalist for their attendance and support. Of course special thanks to "Team Green" for pulling it all together. And a warm thanks to Neil and the staff at Kubo for their hospitality. In all over 100 people through the door with all our signs leaving by that same door as the crowd dwindled around 11pm. A great evening of warm feelings and community.

Saturday it was off to the market first thing to meet Green supporters and share the warm sunny day talking politics. Team Green moved more signs, gathered more volunteer info and sold more "Think Green" T-shirts. We even sold one to Conservative incumbent Dean del Mastro!! The afternoon was spent in the car on the way to Toronto to pick up another 250 signs and thinking of new ways to convey the message.

Sunday.... here it is. Just returned from the Easter Seals "Arm Chair Challenge" where with the support of friends, family and green supporters we raised over $500 in under an hour!! *Fist bump* For the hours that await me, catching up on emails, facebook, twitter and the electronic needs and then knock on a few doors on my way home.

Monday will be another full day. Another all candidates encounter 7pm at The Lion's Centre in East City...and through it all, days peppered with radio and print interviews.

An under taking....

Debate This!

Well, it's happened again. The MSM has decided not to invite Elizabeth May to the debates. Deja Vu! The call went out last night through social online media and the response was overwhelming "Let Elizabeth Speak!" With 1 in 10 people voting Green last time around, it's unbelievable that we aren't allowed to debate, with the other leaders, the future direction of the country. The reason why? Because we Greens don't hold a seat in Parliament. The reason why? We don't employ Proportional Representation as an electoral process. The "first past the post" system has done well by the old parties and until we change that, we'll continue to fight this up hill battle. Based on a metaphor for horse racing, it encourages tactical or strategic voting where voters vote for one of the two parties most likely to form the government. The fall out in our case is that Green voters may vote Liberal in an attempt to "dethrone" the Conservatives. That said, given we received over 930,000 votes in 2008, one can only wonder what kind of numbers we would have amassed if that fear didn't exist!

Off and Running

Well it's an election I didn't expect, despite all the noise on Parliament Hill. That said, I've entered the fray with renewed enthusiasm to share the Green Party vision for a new Canada. Looking forward to working with everyone who has come to the table to help out and spread the message. I'm always looking for input and ideas as to how to engage and inspire the electorate and we've got a mere month to do it. With voter apathy so high, it may be a good chance for Greens to get people to the polls who normally feel it wouldn't matter if they did vote. I'm anxious to defeat the Conservatives here and would do my best to take Peterborough's message to Ottawa. This is our chance to turn the attentions of the country towards our city and turn the light on all those who make it one of the best places to live.

Now, off to collect those final few signatures and deliver them to the returning officer to officially get this ball rolling!

Go Greens!