It's Not Easy, Being Green

I went to an all-candidates meeting last night, something you should have done. It was interesting and informative, with a few little surprises. I won't bore you with a blow-by-blow reconstruction, just with the highlights.

(I was wrong by the way--they did invite ALL candidates, not just the big three. An easy mistake to make considering the Greens, with candidates in every single riding in Canada, were excluded from the televised debate. They aren't listed on the Globe and Mail's page of party platforms either--even though the Bloc Quebecois, who aren't running outside Quebec, are .)

The theatre is air-conditioned, thank god. Cos it's a stinking hot evening.

First: The people. From left to right (no you can't see them): Jack Hummelman of the Christian Heritage Party. Looking a bit put-upon, as though he knows he isn't going to be taken seriously. He wears a beige suit, brown shoes. The youngest male of four on the stage, he makes it through the entire evening without once using the word "Bible" and employing the word "Biblical" only once. One gets the feeling he's not telling it like it is, that he's keeping his main points carefully under wraps.

He makes a couple of references to abortion being a bad thing, mentions his own six children, and the fact that he purchased old Firehall #3. He has six kids AND owns a heritage building (which he wants to use as a constituancy office if elected)? The SO comments that he must be rich--pretty good for a window salesman.

But insufficiently transparent. The CHP Web site is scathing about gay rights and marriage, and proclaims loudly that Canada is going to hell (metaphorically--or maybe not) in a handcart (an as-yet-unproven assumption).

This man is urbane and mildly uncomfortable onstage to the point of being bland. He says very little about what his party believes, and nothing at all about what they will do if elected. Worrying, that.

This, plus his diffident manner cause me to believe (and hope) that he's not quitting his day job.

Online, Hummelman is a non-presence. Googling his name generated only five hits, two of which don't work (seeming to relate to a city bid of some sort--purchse of a fire hall?) and three of which are straight news about the election candidates.

Now here's a great nickname: "Firehall Jack"--oooh!

I note from the Burnaby Now that the meeting in Coquitlam drew over 200 people. Ours got approximately fifty. Possibly because my town is sliced into three ridings.

Next from left(onstage, not politically): Dave Haggard, Liberal Party.

Haggard's name resonates with IWA members. He was union president for quite some time. Nowhere is the division between the federal and provincial liberals more visible.

He is obviously unused to working small rooms--his opening and closing remarks, delivered waaay too close to the mike, are deafening. But he's big and burly--teddy-bearish and comfortable. I'd definitely buy a used car from him. Maybe it's the fact that his shirtsleeves are blue--he and the Conservative are the only males not wearing jackets--symbolic, maybe? He has a salt-and-pepper goatee and is of all the candidates the most polished. He's generally upbeat, just hangin' out.

Unlike most of his colleagues, he's more specific about what his government (the national incumbent) wants to do. But like most of them he seems vague on the specifics of how it's to get done. But he has a more polished delivery than the CHP and Green candidates, and a friendlier manner than:


Paul Forseth, Conservative Party of Canada.

Forseth sits glowering in his chair. The SO later says "I felt like he was saying 'It's not worth my time'".

Indeed, upon first meeting, all the other candidates sit comfortably posed, except the Green party rep, who has the air of a kid doing show-and-tell and who likely would have been more comfortable in slacks on the raised stage. Forseth's arms are aggressively crossed, and he seems to scowl out at the audience.

Forseth offers nothing positive. Every remark from his mouth is condmenation of the current government and he doesn't give an inch. At one point, responding to a statement from the NDP candidate he breaks his thin veneer of civility and sneers "Well you won't be forming the government"--implying that he will be.

He is unrelentingly unpleasant. I can't believe he's the incumbent and can only conclude that he's so confident of being re-elected that he figures he can say anything.

It's been a major flaw of the Conservative campaign this year that they speak little about their platform, except to offer Bushian/Campbellian tax cuts plus extra spending on Mum and apple pie, whilst excoriating their opponents. Personally I think that at the heart of this lies this problem.

The current Conservatives are primarily US-style neocons under the name of the more moderate Prograssive Conservatives of yore. They seem a sour, no-fun bunch. Their leader was an ex-preacher until the late merger, and since then the more moderate Tories have been jumping ship to get away from Harper.

But more on that later. My point is that Forseth looks and sounds as though he was force-fed a lemon--or possibly given a lye enema--shortly before coming onstage.

Again, he offers no promises--barely even refers to his party platform. And of all the people there, he's the one I most wanted to ask:

"Your party has promised $7 bn more defence spending, huge child tax credits, and a reduction in income taxes to US levels. How are you going to pay for all that?"

Personally, I think the Conservatives have come up with a terrific weapon that kills social programs but leaves MP pension plans standing. As I recall, the Canadian Reform/Alliance Party (sometimes known by the anachronym [yes, anachronym--a term of reference that's out of date] CRAP) once swore they'd eschew the MP pension plan, but decided upon election to parliament to keep it.


Next to Forseth sits the Green Party representative Carli Travers. She's clearly nervous. She's tall and thin, coiffed, and looks slightly unreal--reminds me vaguely of the movie "Clueless". She's a social work student at a local college, and looks as though she hasn't quite graduated high school.

When it's her turn to speak she reads from a piece of blue paper, reminding me of Speech Day at grade school. She's hesitant, and not as adept at ducking direct questions as the others are. The others are circuitous, but in a polished fashion that means they never quite answer the real question, mostly, but instead talk about something slightly related that they have a stock answer for--giving you nothing but sending you away feeling almost satisfied.

Carli's earnest and courageous, though, and manages to get a couple of good plugs in for her party platform. The thing I like most is her total lack of cynicism. Her eyes shine, and she's clearly excited to be here. I hope the corners never quite wear off. We need more like her in government.

The mostly-blue-haired crowd applauds perhaps a little more for her than anyone else--they clearly feel she's in for a crushing.

Last But Not Least,

No matter what Paul Forseth may think, is Jack--sorry--Steve McClurg {for some reason the morderator kept calling him "Jack" all the time, then apologising--there is definitely a real resemblance--could it be that JL is just a photoshop version of SM?}.

McClurg has real charm. He's relaxed, matter-of-fact, and has more presence than anyone save Haggard. In a brown suit he has the air of an elder statesman--and he is, on this stage. He seems to be the oldest one here. He greeted myself and the SO when we came in--the only one to do so.

He's pretty much as vague as the rest on specifics--he's another one I want to ask the money question of. The NDP seems to need about $80 bn to accomplish their promises. But I enjo his quiet style. The only time he seems to get heated is when the everyone-else-bashing Forseth states that Jack Layton has said he'll work with a Conservative minority government (which I can't help but feel might be a good thing, generally, for a few years). This seems unlikely to me, and McClurg strongly disputes this--Jack Layton himself has apparently denied it to him. I think Harper's been telling porky-pies lately to boost his image.

This is the Liberal perspective. I am suspicious.
This is another view.
And here's what most people seem to think he actually said--which is essentially nothing unexpected.

The candidates meeting has done little to change my initial choices. While I had considered going Green, I have to say that Travers' wobbliness didn't leave me with a favourable impression. But I still won't vote CHP, and definitely want to vote against the Conservative candidate, just 'cos he's a prick.

Theoretically, that leaves me with Haggard or McClurg, both of whom seem like nice enough people. But if their federal policies don't hold up I may have to go green anyway.

It's miserable: Apart from the Cons, no-one seems willing to support the Canadian Forces, a party platform plank devoutly to be wished.

Damn. Here's me bustin' my hump to help you decide how to vote, and these clowns go and steal my thunder! Unfortunately, I'm apparently supposed to vote for the BQ.

Sigh.

More later. . .