Quebec least likely to want to see E. May in Parliament

New poll's key feature ?

Quebec's view on May in Parliament : yawn.

Should have picked David C, over E May, if we really want to gain any votes for GPC in Canada's greenest province.....

NS Greens only party to file all candidate returns on time

The NS Greens finally did something right.

Seventy of NS's 210 odd candidates in June provincial election failed to get their candidate's returns in this week.

That is one on three !

Some might even be MLAs and hence unable to attend the legislature till they get their returns in and accepted.

But none were Greens - Kathryn Herbert accepted an offer from party members to help her out and 46 returns were polished off in one night back in early July.

Kudos to Kathryn !

Medicare USA ? Yes we can't !

Obama seems likely to back off from his promise to bring in some public medicine in the US.

They still use old imperial feet and inches, avoid celsius temperatures and metric measurements, so it seems sensible to avoid this new-fangled medicare as well.

Progressive or regressive ? Canadian Greens can't seem to figure them out .

America seems a little of both....

Greens cheer as Jack is re-elected for another term

Who is the best vote getter the federal Greens in Canada have right now ?

Most Greens, upon reflection, would say "Jack Layton" .

Because of the vicissitudes the GPC is going through right now, the reasons for their current exalted standings in opinion polls must surely lie more with how Canadians view their third party than how they regard their fourth national party.

This weekend's NDP Convention in Halifax showed us a lot more Jack than we have seen lately and as a result we can expect his personal approval ratings to fall even further.

Jack , at least as Jack-the-Leader-in-Public, has an prompt answer for every problem and seems to be entirely unreflective.

One simply never hears him say, " I'm not sure we have an answer for that, let me think a little about that, it seems to have no easy sollution that will make most everybody happy."

Most people respect Jack Layton as the leader of a party with a long worthy tradition of keeping the other guys honest but would hate to see him given the reins of power.

OBAMA IS NO 'DP' & NEITHER IS JACK

The decision of the NDP not to decide on a name shortening also gave Greens hope this weekend.

Having a party name that isn't turned in a set of initials is a godsend for Greens.

Ditto for the Liberals, Conservatives, Labour, Republicans and Democrats.

No one calls the Liberals the LPs or the republicans RPs.

Only parties with three word names suffer that fate : CCF and NDP for example.

But almost every New Democrat rejecting the dropping of the new off their party name claimed they feared being called DPs.

In the 1950s, DP was the "N" word for Canada.

But the Canadian 'Democrats' claim that they fear they'd end up being called DPs is just a smokescreen : NDPers actually seem to like being known by their initials !

Why, when it only conjures up fearsome organizations like KGB and KKK with similar three letter names, is beyond explanation.

But Greens can be grateful for the NDP decision not to decide.

And for the fact that only 11% of the NDP delegates said "Jack, its time to go."

They won't have to face Democrats as they chase votes in the next year - but they will get to face off against 'Smiling Jack' one more time....

One Hanky Quiltmaking - a Green way to revalue your family treasures

Here is a blog I always really enjoy:

One Hanky Quiltmaking.

Margo Takacs Marshall says those family treasures that you take out of a drawer once a year to enjoy which no one else in the family appreciates, will probably end up in the landfill after you go.

Why not arrange them in a display or turn them into a quilt and explain (with the label) just what they mean to you, so your family will appreciate them after you're gone?

She did this, with her collection of hankies - even did a beautiful book on her 'one hanky quilts' .

But her point is that you can do the same with you or your grandmother's doilies, buttons, photographs, whatever.

Recycle, reuse - revalue is her motto.

Hats off to Paul Shreenan the GREEN who keeps on greenin'

Paul Shreenan, the recent Green Party of Canada candidate in the federal riding of Dartmouth Cole Harbour is at it, again.

"It" is being active and public on green oriented issues between elections.

He was on CBC Radio's Maritime Noon a week or so ago - making the point that much of our 'litter' - once defined as that natural stuff that falls off trees on its way to becoming humus and soil, is now redefined 'as the synthetic stuff falling off of patrons eating fast food takeout'.

Another word debased.

A Green talking to real people - not just other Greens ??!!

Don't fall off your chair - it does happen - in other provinces and in other countries.

But rarely in Nova Scotia.

Chris and Mike Milburn - they are active Greens in their community in between elections.

Probably some others - tell me about yourself - prove me wrong - get active !

I need to do the same.

We all do....