It’s time for Uptown Waterloo Open Streets for August! 
There’s always lots to see and do at Open Streets. Check out their website for more details
Drop by the WRGreens booth at the Waterloo Square Marketplace and pick up a free Parks Canada Discovery Pass! (On a first come, first served basis.)
Members of the Guelph Constituency Association for the Green Party of Ontario elected Mike Schreiner to be the Guelph Green Party Candidate for the next election at the (Green) Party in the park. The rest of us were just there to have fun.
The (Green) Party in the Park was a big success.
We got to meet Adam Olsen, one of the newly minted BC Greens MLA who came out to support Mike Schreiner.
Adam gave us all a boost with his inspirational keynote speech.
Mike talked about what we’ve already accomplished as well as the things we need if we’re to bring about that green future we all need.
The fabulous Joni NehRita played a solo set to welcome us all to the park at the beginning of the picnic, and the awesome Andrew Craig Trio entertained us after the speeches.
The event was catered by The Schmuck Truck with cold deserts from Bluewater Creamery.
Folks from Barrie, Brantford and Kitchener and more from all over Ontario came to join the Guelph Greens in the party that accompanied Guelph’s candidate selection.
There were lots of things for kids to do but Mother Nature provides the best playground.
Mike’s got a clear vision of a Green future for the province of Ontario. Won’t you join us to help bring it about?
You’ll find these and more photos from the (Green) Party In The Park in the Flickr Album
Whether you’re an official Green Party of Ontario member, a GPO supporter, or even if you’re just a thinker green thoughts, you’re invited to Riverside Park in Guelph for a (Green) Party In The Park.
Anyone is welcome, even if you’re just curious about the Party that convinced the Government of Ontario to bump up the rates (from $3.71 per million litres to $53.71 per million litres) commercial watertakers like Nestlé pay for our municipal water. That’s still too little — it’s still only about a third of what we pay, but it’s a pretty impressive achievement for a party without a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. If Ontario wants better, we’ll need to start actually voting Green.
The official reason for the party is a Guelph Green Party of Ontario nomination meeting which will launch Mike Schreiner‘s bid to become the first Green Party member in Queen’s Park!
Come on out and meet Mike! Join the free fun with an RSVP:
connect with the green community
from Schmuck Truck and Bluewater Creamery
from newly elected BCGreens MLA Adam Olsen
with bubbles and facepaint!
from the awesome Joni Nehrita
and the Andrew Craig Trio
Spread the word in your own neighbourhood!
Print a poster or two and post them on Grocery Store & other Community Bulletin Boards
[If you’ve never used Flickr, here are some handy instructions for downloading]
There’s always lots to see and do at Open Streets Uptown Waterloo.
Drop by the WRGreens Booth chat about green issues, find out more about the local green goings on, or just to say “hi.”
Draw!!! We’ll be drawing for free Parks Canada Discovery Passes throughout the afternoon. The Discovery Pass is good for free admission to these Parks Canada Sites throughout this year.
Waterloo Region sites include WoodsideWoodside National Historic Site and Waterloo Pioneers Memorial Tower. Some of the other Ontario sites include HMCS Haida National Historic Site, Point Clark Lighthouse National Historic Site, Queenston Heights National Historic Site, and my own favourite, Bruce Peninsula National Park. And there are other National Parks spread across Canada.
Because of the ongoing LRT construction disruption, Open Streets has taken to the trails for this year. Here’s the map:
[reblogged from Kitchener—Conestoga Greens]
“During the election, we ran on a promise to bring British Columbians change they can count on,” Weaver said. “A confidence motion is fundamentally a question of trust – can we count on the B.C. Liberal government to deliver this change? Our B.C. Green caucus has determined that we cannot.
“With no party receiving a majority in our recent election, we conducted extensive negotiations with both parties, and ultimately came to an agreement to support the B.C. NDP in supply and confidence matters. Under this agreement, an NDP government has the confidence of a majority of members in the House. We have everything we need to work together to advance good public policy that will make a difference in the lives of British Columbians.
“We are encouraged that the B.C. Liberals have indicated their support for many of the policy priorities outlined in our agreement with the B.C. NDP. This is an historic opportunity for all 87 MLAs to work together to address the most pressing issues facing our province. Our caucus looks forward to working with our colleagues on both sides of the house in a productive and collaborative new government.”
Following the above two Green Party MLA’s maiden speeches in support of NDP Leader John Horgan’s motion “the present government does not have the confidence of this House,” Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberal government loses confidence vote 44-42, sparking either NDP government or election
B.C.’s Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon has asked BC NDP leader John Horgan to form Government with support of the B.C. Greens. Woo hoo!
Of all the countries that provides citizens with Universal Health Care, did you know Canada is the only country that doesn’t also have Universal Pharmacare?
In 2014, Dr. Eric Hoskins ~ Ontario’s Liberal Minister of Health and Long-Term Care ~ wrote an OpEd for the Globe and Mail explaining Why Canada needs a national pharmacare program
It has been estimated that Universal public drug coverage would:
A Mowat Centre study published by Lindsay Handren in in 2015 goes even further:
“Overall, it estimates a universal pharmacare plan would save up to $11.4 billion a year, with $1 billion of that saved just by no longer duplicating administrative costs in the current “patchwork” system.”
However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal Government have more important things to worry about than the health of its citizens, so the Ontario Liberals Government has stepped up to the plate with an intention to add publicly funded pharmacare coverage for children and youth ~ adding to the patchwork system.
“Because Ontario is adding universal, comprehensive pharmacare coverage to the age group that uses medicines least often. Many working-age Ontarians, who are far more likely to require medicines than children, will still be uninsured.”
This Wednesday, June 28th, the new KW Chapter of the Council of Canadians is hosting a Pharmacare Town Hall Meeting from 7 – 9pm at First United Church in Waterloo (map). Kitchener Centre MP Raj Saini (a pharmacist before going into politics) will be representing the Liberal Party, Kitchener-Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife will be representing the NDP, and our own Stacey Danckert will be there speaking for the Greens.
With a provincial election in the offing, this should be a lively event. We hope to see you there!
Until July 13th you can sign Steve Morgan’s ePetition E-959 (HEALTH CARE SERVICES)
which calls upon the Government of Canada to:
1. Implement through a Federal law, a Pan-Canadian Universal Pharmacare Plan, in this 42nd Parliament; and2. Implement a National Formulary for medically necessary drugs including a drug monitoring agency providing regulations and oversight to protect Canadians.
For more information download the PDFs of the Pharmacare studies:
CMAJ: Estimated cost of universal public coverage of prescription drugs in Canada
Mowat Centre: Unfilled Prescriptions: the Drug Coverage Gap in Canada’s Health Care Systems
Postscript
I’ve just learned Kitchener—Centre Liberal MP Raj Saini has backed out.
Dr. Sherilyn Houle (UW School of Pharmacy) will also be joining the panel.
This weekend join WRGreens at the amazing K-W Multicultural Festival!
As always, you’ll find the festival at the lovely Victoria Park.
You never know who you’ll meet at the K-W Multicultural Festival!
Hope to see you there!
The day started out windy and overshadowed by glowering clouds and a smattering of raindrops that ended around noon, but the forecast thunderstorm never materialized at UpTown Waterloo’s Open Streets.
Sadly the Artists Alley had to be cancelled (the alley is pretty much a wind tunnel) but Open Streets UpTown Waterloo carried on.
And you know what? It was a great day that was well enjoyed by all those who came out in spite of the scary looking clouds! Throughout the day the wind kept the weather shifting, so although it was hot, it wasn’t unbearably so, and sun and cloud alternated throughout the day.
Our side event, Michele Braniff’s storytelling segment “Tales of Green” was a lot of fun. The setting ~ beside Laurel Creek ~ was perfect for Michele’s feature story, “How Much Water Does The River Need?”
It started to rain a bit through the first story, but everyone stayed to find out how it came out.
Between tales some of the audience chose to retreat in the face of rain. Those who stayed felt the odd summer sprinkle but enjoyed Michele’s other two tales immensely.
After the storytelling was over, the rain started coming down more steadily and the OpenStreets organizers decided to end the festivities an hour early. While vendors were packing up, kids on bikes got some great fun riding through the emptying Square in the warm summer rain.
The weather sure kept everyone guessing, but what I can tell you is that a good time was had by all. And of course the rain actually stopped for the day at 4pm. 😉
[And if we’re really lucky, perhaps Ontario’s Monsoon Season will be over in time for the Multicultural Festival next weekend!]
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Map: http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/43.46411/-80.52053
More info: Open Streets UpTownWaterloo
printable copy of the poster available on Flickr
[if you’re not sure how to download images from Flickr, this might help]
If you’re new here, the WRGreens is an umbrella group formed by all the Green Party associations ~ federal EDAs and Provincial CAs ~ for the five ridings in Waterloo Region.
In my experience, Greens are truly grass roots people who tend to be more interested in getting green things accomplished than seeking careers in politics. And because we’re the smallest of the major parties, (and the inequity of our electoral system makes it extraordinarily difficult to get Greens elected) we have to work much harder than the big parties to be heard.
The largest barrier to electing Greens has traditionally been our unfair winner-take-all electoral system that makes people feel they need to vote strategically for other parties because they are afraid Greens can’t get elected. It’s been an ongoing Catch-22 scenario: the reason Green candidates “can’t” get elected is because too many supporters don’t vote Green because they’re afraid Green candidates can’t get elected. Fortunately that is all changing as Canadians are finally starting to realize that not only can Canadian Greens get elected, even a single Green MP can make a huge difference.
Even without an elected Green MP in Ontario, provincial leader Mike Schreiner has worked hard and had an amazing influence on the provincial legislature in lobbying for campaign finance reform, emancipating local craft beer and working tirelessly to protect local water from multinational bottlers. Our work depends on people power, and by working together we can do a much better job of spreading green thoughts.
One way to do that is by getting together to discuss the things we want to do and work out strategies to make that happen. Sometimes we have planning events, sometimes social events, and sometimes organizational events. Very often they are all of the above, like last week’s excellent monthly Regional Meeting at the Queen Street Commons Cafe where four of our five Waterloo Region ridings had representation.
Everyone from long time organizers to anyone curious about what Green means in Waterloo Region is welcome to attend WRGreens Regional meetings. Come out to find out what’s coming up, to volunteer or even just to share green thoughts. We had a report from the 2017 Green Party of Ontario AGM (Annual General Meeting) and discussed plans for upcoming events– like the one coming up this Sunday!
WRGreens will again be at Uptown Waterloo’s Open Streets. The @OSWaterloo organizers have been fantastically inventive in meeting the massive challenge of LRT roadworks and keeping the awesome summer festival vibrant. This year they’ve chosen to incorporate the Uptown Waterloo trails as the “street” venues, which will be seriously awesome.
They’ve also given each of the four festival dates a theme, and the first theme for Sunday June 18th (Father’s Day) the theme is “Word.”
Naturally, there can only be one word for us: Green! So in addition to our usual information booth in the Waterloo Public Square Marketplace, our own Cambridge Green storyteller Michele Braniff will be telling Tales of Green on the Main Stage beside Laurel Creek!
We hope to see you there!
