Opinion Piece:
At present, there are at least two stark, life threatening, issues facing Ontarians and other Earthlings. One is Climate Breakdown and the other is the Smashing of Biodiversity. Both, actually, are symptoms of the massive underlying problem: human overshoot.
To address these vital issues, on one side of the political spectrum are the Conservatives, with 40.2 percent of the vote, but who, because of the opposition’s split vote, hold a massive majority. They are deniers, growthists and favour business as usual, but more so. On the other side are the three opposition parties, with 23.7, 23.9 and 6.0 percent of the vote (this equals ~53.6%), who all claim to be socially progressive (to varying degrees, and with small differences) and who all claim to be vitally concerned and interested in climate and biodiversity.
I’ve had experience within the Green Party, and one of the most important tenets held by them is that, beyond all else, they had to remain separate and distinct. I presume it’s the same for the other minor parties. This might be fine when the issues are, really, of no consequence, as has often been the case in previous elections. But now, when there are life or death issues on the table, the party’s individual pride in their separateness is revealed for the deadly sin it is. Here, there’re two deadly crises that could have been addressed, but will not be because the three so called opposition parties all clung to their falsely precious identities. Rather than unite, disasters are chosen as the lesser evil. It’s hard to remain polite!
It’s not like they did not know what would happen; this is a common event in Canadian politics. Multiple opposition parties split the vote so a weak but slightly larger minority party captures a majority. Well, in my opinion, their houses should all be cursed with a pox, or worse. Because the so-called opposition parties are so ideologically crippled, Ontarians and other Earthlings are going to suffer another four years of climate denying, environmentally destroying governance. It’s especially galling as we all know it didn’t have to be this way.
This happened before the last federal election too, when the Green Party and the NDP refused to cooperate in such a manner as to gain more seats, as suggested by 350.org. At the time, I refused, in writing, to donate to either party unless they cooperated, but, of course, they refused.
Since we now have four years in which to get our act together, may I suggest that any who care about the two serious issues of Climate Breakdown and the Smashing of Biodiversity start now by withholding all donations, and by demanding a unified opposition be in place before the next election. Anything else is an almost criminal dereliction of our duty to the Earth and Earthlings.
Ian Whyte
Ottawa, Canada