“From where I’m sitting, this whole “green surge” thing – there doesn’t seem to be a lot of actual evidence to back it up. Yet.” -Sudbury Steve May, “Is the Green Surge For Real?” February 5, 2019. Nanaimo-Ladysmith Federal Electoral District – Results – Elections Canada I would have been
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Sudbury Steve May: The Kingsway Cases at the LPAT: An (Unrepresented) Party’s Observations, Part 9: Going Through the Motions
“We’ve been sitting on the fence for far too long.” – Caiaphas, “Then We Are Decided,” Jesus Christ SuperstarThe Easter season has come and gone, and despite numerous promises – mostly to myself – I still haven’t completed this ‘going through the motions’ blogpost that I started months ago. I
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Trudeau Must Shift From Climate Delayer to Climate Champion
The following first appeared in print and online in The Sudbury Star on Saturday, April 20 2019 (see: “May: Trudeau must shift from climate delayer to champion“). Please allow me a moment for a little shameless self-promotion (because, after all, if I don’t promote myself, who will?). It’s often been
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Some Hard Take-Aways for Greens from Last Night’s Election in Price Edward Island
Greens across the nation woke up this morning to welcome news that the PEI Green Party, under able leader Peter Bevan-Baker, surged at the polls on Tuesday evening, electing a caucus of 8 Greens – the largest contingent of Greens ever to enter a legislature together anywhere in North America.
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: For the NDP, it’s 1 Down and 1 To Go
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s resounding defeat at the polls last night may just be the breakthrough that New Democrats need to get back into the game that the 2019 federal election is shaping up to be. With Alberta’s New Democrats being banished to the purgatory of the Opposition benches, where,
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: There’s No Place for Hate in Our Political Discourse
There’s no place for hate in our political discourse. That seems like a fairly elementary statement – and yet, in 2019, I am profoundly saddened that we keep needing to revisit it.This blog post isn’t about “free speech”. That’s something that’s guaranteed individuals and organizations in our nation, as per
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: My Letter to Greater Sudbury Council Regarding Request for Decision on Ranked Ballots for 2022 Municipal Election
It was with significant concern that I read in the media this week that Council is going to be asked to decide next week on what form of ballot voters should be using in the 2022 municipal election (see: “Report: Combined paper, online ballot in 2022 will cost $600K more,”
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: The Time is Now for Greater Sudbury to Declare a Climate Emergency
Earlier this month, the City of Kingston declared a climate emergency (see: “Why Kingston has declared a climate emergency — and what that really means,” TVO, March 7, 2019). Kingston joins a growing group of over 300 Canadian municipalities, including Vancouver and Halifax, that have publicly stated the climate crisis
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: All Hands On Deck for Greens in Nanaimo-Ladysmith as NDP Abandons Ship
On Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a by-election for the British Columbia riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith, which had been vacated by NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson. Malcolmson, a well-known and capable parliamentarian, was first elected in 2015 when the NDP swept all ridings on Vancouver Island, save Elizabeth May’s seat in
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: The Kingsway Cases at the LPAT: An (Unrepresented) Party’s Observations, Part 8: Derailed!
I’ve got some catching up to do. It’s March, 2019 – and between you and me, I was really enjoying my little blog-reprieve from writing about my experiences with the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal (LPAT) on a matter arising from a decision made by the City of Greater Sudbury to
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Waiting for #Elxn2019 – This Ain’t No Green Godot
When we last visited our intrepid Green Party heroes, May Green and Green May (MG and GM for short), they were nestled beneath a baobab tree, waiting…..thinking of Samuel Beckett and….just waiting for the next election to come along and change their lives. May Green: When is the next election,
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Andrew Scheer’s Shameful Support for Truck Convoy Riddled with Racists
Climate change-denying conspiracy theorists in big trucks and yellow vests rallied in Ottawa earlier this week* to demand Canada build more pipelines and shut the doors on immigration. They also called for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s arrest for treason. You can’t make this stuff up. Parliament Hill has never seen
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: By-election Round-Up: A Good Night for the Green Party
One should never try to read too much into by-election results. Everyone knows that. By-election results are more often representative of local political microcosms as viewed by a generally smaller number of voters at the riding level. And yet pundits like to pore over polling results, dissecting them they were
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Is the Green Surge For Real?
So, I’m seeing pundits starting to refer to the “green surge” as if it were maybe a real thing. Most recently, the words came from one Canadian media’s most well-known pundits, the extremely respectable and always erudite Chantal Hebert. Admittedly, the words “Green party surge” appeared only at the very
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: A New Political and Economic Paradigm is Necessary to Confront the Climate Crisis
History teaches us that even the sturdiest economic and political paradigms eventually crumble, often quite suddenly. My generation remembers the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. I grew up at a time when a stand-off between rival nuclear-armed national blocs was the norm. When
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Blanding’s Turtle Will Have Little Chance for Survival as North Bay Sets its Sites on Becoming Ontario’s Least Friendly City to the Natural Environment
It looks like opposition to a new casino in North Bay is starting to grow. But it might be too little, too late, as North Bay Council has now twice-voted on their support for a new gaming facility on Pinewood Drive in the City’s south end.What’s in the news today,
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Greater Sudbury Going Off the Rails Again with Strategic Planning Process
Here we go again – or should I say, here we go off the rails again.I read with interest a recent article published in Sudbury dot com about the upcoming Strategic Planning Process that the City was about to embark on (see: “Jan. 8 council meeting is all about the
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Crystal Ball Gazing: (Mainly) Political Predictions for 2019
It’s been a few years since my last end-of-year “Crystal Ball Gazing” blog (although in the summer of 2017, I did manage to successfully predict just how Greater Sudbury Council would, via a tie vote, end up selecting the Kingsway for the site of a new arena – see: “Crystal
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: Courtesy Shmertecy! Greens are Making a Mistake in Burnaby
Let me just start this blogpost by pointing out that Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May is one of the classiest politicos that I know. She sure as hell has more respect for our parliamentary processes than I could ever muster. She is a parliamentarian first, and the leader
Continue readingSudbury Steve May: From Disruption to Insurgency – Climate Change Action in 2019
In hindsight, 2018 might prove to have been a watershed year in the fight against climate change. Certainly, 2018 saw its share of progressive steps forward, like the federal government’s announcement that its carbon price would include a rebate to families. And as we’ve seen in many other years, steps
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