Monday, January 23rd, 2005
Ms. Olivia Chow
c/o Olivia Chow Campaign Headquarters
659 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON M6G 1K9
Dear Olivia,
Well there I was, all ready to give you my vote today, just like I had in the last election… And then one of your telephone campaigners went and messed it all up.
The young gentleman who called me was pleasant enough, but when I inquired about your plans for art and culture in this country he had no information to give me, and suggested that I visit your website. So I went to your website and as far as I can tell there’s nothing on there about art and culture. The NDP national site has a little blurb about more Canadian content on satellite radio, but not much else.
That’s about on par with the Liberals and Conservatives, but look what I found when I visited the this page on the Green Party site:
The Green Party understands that our future together, our sense of who we are, depends on policies that ensure a thriving, diverse and socially responsible cultural community as part of an inclusive Canada. Green Party MPs will work to (among other things):
- Increase support for community arts programs and facilities across Canada by establishing stable base-funding at a set percentage of the federal budget.
- Protect Canada’s cultural identity during trade negotiations.
- Expand support for regional arts festivals that bring new Canadian art to a wider audience.
- Introduce a law mandating cinemas and video chains to have 20 per cent Canadian content.
What’s more, the Green Party candidate for my riding is a showbiz-type, just like me!
Obviously there’s more to governing this country than supporting the arts. Here’s another list of Green platform policies that apparently your party doesn’t support:
- The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to subsidizing car companies such as Ford and GM — which have the highest CO2 emissions of any major car companies worldwide
- The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to clear cutting
- The Green Party is opposed to the commercial seal hunt and would cut government subsidies to it
- The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to importing toxic waste from the United States to incinerate in Canada.
Now folks are fairly confident that you’ll take Trinity-Spadina with or without my vote, so come tomorrow we can both breathe easier knowing that our favourite community is no longer under the reigns of Canada’s laziest MP. But please don’t think that I’m “throwing my vote away” to the Greens; I believe that in a very small way I’m investing in the future of this great country, and in so doing giving future generations of Canadians another option for responsible leadership.
That, and I’m still kinda pissed about your husband helping to bring down the government and wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on a winter election…
At any rate, looking forward to see you in Ottawa!
Andrew Currie,
a Trinity-Spadina voter
Andrew Currie 