Green Party leader Elizabeth May stopped into Campbell River Thursday morning to rally the party faithful as the federal election campaign rolled into its final weekend.
The North Island-Powell River (NIPR) visit is one of seven Vancouver Island stops she will be making over the next three days.
B次元官网网址淔our days to go, weB次元官网网址檙e in the home stretch here,B次元官网网址� NIPR Green candidate Mark deBruijn said when introducing May to a gathering of supporters in the lobby of the Tidemark Theatre, the local performing arts centre. The rally was originally scheduled for outside in Campbell RiverB次元官网网址檚 Spirit Square but less-than-ideal weather prompted a move indoors across the street.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e starting what will be a tour through all seven Vancouver Island ridings before Saturday morning,B次元官网网址� May told the crowd. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e going to get to all the places where the Greens are running strong, where we can elect Greens and where we will elect Greens in a Green wave to send more MPs to Ottawa who are committed to always putting principle ahead of power, putting hope and love and commitment ahead of short term partisan advantage.B次元官网网址�
The last eight years in Ottawa in parliament have been a real struggle, May said.
B次元官网网址淏ecause the culture of the place is so dispiriting,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淎nd nothing will fix Parliament like a lot of beautiful new green MPs like Mark joining me there.B次元官网网址�
May said the Green Party has been staying on the high road with a positive campaign. She mocked the media, pundits and her critics who dismissed the Green Party platform as being a Mission Impossible.
B次元官网网址淲hat IB次元官网网址檝e heard from so many journalists, critics and pundits is, B次元官网网址榃ell their planB次元官网网址檚 awfully ambitious,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� May said. B次元官网网址淎nd their strongest criticism of our plan is B次元官网网址業t wonB次元官网网址檛 be easy.B次元官网网址� ItB次元官网网址檚 necessary and nothing worthwhile has ever been easy.
B次元官网网址淚magine if theyB次元官网网址檇 said B次元官网网址� not that IB次元官网网址檓 comparing myself to him B次元官网网址� but what if they had said to Martin Luther King, B次元官网网址楤oy, thatB次元官网网址檚 ambitious.B次元官网网址� And, B次元官网网址業t wonB次元官网网址檛 be easy.B次元官网网址� Or, you know, to Nelson Mandela: B次元官网网址楾hatB次元官网网址檚 ambitious. YouB次元官网网址檙e going to end Apartheid? That wonB次元官网网址檛 be easy.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淣othing worth doing in this world has ever been easy if it was worth doing. We have a status quo economy, we have a status quo culture that is prepared to celebrate greed over human well being, is prepared to say the billionaire class has a right to all the money they get because theyB次元官网网址檙e the giant pooh-bahs of economic growth and nothing should get in their way and if climate change is a real issue, well, weB次元官网网址檒l deal with it later. So our message is (youth climate activist) GretaB次元官网网址檚 (Thunberg) message which is there is no later, thereB次元官网网址檚 only now and now is when Canadians have a referendum on climate and a chance to actually exercise our democratic right as citizens and vote for what we want.B次元官网网址�
That list of what Canadians want, May said, includes universal, single-payer pharmacare; a universal early-learning child care plan; dental care; free post-secondary education and no student debt.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e not just ambitious about climate change, weB次元官网网址檙e ambitious about social justice,B次元官网网址� May said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e very ambitious about the need to redress 150 years of colonialism and oppression and actually face the requirements for truth, justice and reconciliation.B次元官网网址�
She disagreed that the fossil fuel industry is an engine of growth in the country, describing it, instead, as a sector calling us to join in a B次元官网网址渇unereal march to our own demise.B次元官网网址�
And voters can restore the health of Mother Earth through such things as restoring wild salmon by removing B次元官网网址渢hose horrific, toxic fish pens out of our waters,B次元官网网址� she said.
B次元官网网址榃e stand for life on this planet. ItB次元官网网址檚 not too late,B次元官网网址� May said.
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