• Home
  • About
    • Leadership
    • GPNS Executive & Contacts
    • Constitution & By-Laws
    • Audited Financials
  • Contact Us

Green Party of Nova Scotia

The Green Party of Nova Scotia recognizes the intricate connections of a healthy environment, conservative use of our natural resources, thriving communities, and a sustainable economy.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • News & Events
    • Media Releases
    • In the News
  • 2017 Election Platform
  • Green Principles
    • Ecological Wisdom
    • Social Justice
    • Participatory Democracy
    • Nonviolence
    • Sustainability
    • Respect for Diversity
  • Green Vision
    • Agriculture
    • Climate Change
    • Community Health and Prosperity
    • Education
    • Electoral Reform
    • Energy Security
    • Health
    • Natural Resources Utilization and Protection
    • Poverty
  • Policies
    • Draft Policies – Process 2018
      • Proposed Final Text of Policies 2018
    • Education Policy
    • Community Strategy
    • Full-Cost Accounting Policy
  • Blog
    • Leader’s Blog
    • On Whipping Votes and Making Deals
    • Green Party Replies: Cannabis
    • Opinion: Let’s Shift Our Focus to the Future
    • President’s Submission to the Electoral Boundaries Commission
  • Get Involved
    • Subscribe to our Email List
    • Join Us!
    • Volunteer

Carpooling for the October 27 SGM

October 14, 2018 By gpnsadmin Leave a Comment

If anyone is interested in offering to drive or joining in a carpool, please use the comments below to connect with each other. As a reminder, the Special General Meeting will be held in Pictou, 9 am – 5 pm, on October 27, with registration opening at 8:30. The night before, Friday night, there will be a casual social gathering that you are welcome to attend starting at 7 pm at the Stone Soup Cafe.

Filed Under: General

On Whipping Votes and Making Deals

October 8, 2018 By gpnsadmin 1 Comment

by Charlene Boyce, Green Party of Nova Scotia Co-President

The recent New Brunswick election results engendered a lot of interest in the more obscure aspects of parliamentary procedure. What happens when the winner is really not evident?

This election has gone a long way toward showing the serious drawbacks of first-past-the-post in a splintered electorate. We may not be accustomed to minority governments, but once we have  three or more active parties, they become not just a possibility, but an expectation.

The “Big Two” (for now!!), the Liberals and Conservatives found themselves in a practically-tied face-off due to the precedent of favour that the incumbent government enjoys. This left newcomers The People’s Alliance and David Coon’s Green Party with the enviable position of being courted for support. Interestingly, the way the numbers broke out, even with a deal and an ‘alliance government’, a clear majority is not so clear.

Many news anchors were talking to David Coon, asking whether the Greens would ‘prop up’ the Liberals.

Now, those of us familiar with Green politics know that we don’t whip votes. That is a thing we are known for. Our MLAs, MPs and other elected representatives are expected to vote with their conscience. Since we rely heavily on facilitated discussion and consensus building, we often find ourselves agreeing with our esteemed leaders, but not always.

So how does a party leader guarantee support to another government if she or he cannot whip votes?  This is a question I asked of my party executive, some of whom have a lot more experience than I do.

The answer is, the same way all decisions are made. The elected New Brunswick Greens would meet and discuss and decide as a collective whether they would enter into any kind of agreement, and what kind of agreement, if any, that would be.

The New Brunswick Liberals therefore needed to negotiate not just with David Coon, a more known entity to them, as he has been an MLA for several years; but also with Megan Mitton and Kevin Arseneau, brand new MLAs.

It is situations like this that make politics my favourite spectator sport.

Filed Under: General, Green Voices

Green Party Replies: Cannabis

October 8, 2018 By gpnsadmin Leave a Comment

We are happy to respond to inquiries from Nova Scotians. Send your question to gpns@greenpartyns.ca.

The Green Party recently received this inquiry:

What is your stance on marijuana dispenseries? I feel they should be allowed to operate in Nova Scotia. So many people rely on these locations.

This is our reply:

Thanks for reaching out to us. The topic of cannabis legalisation has engendered a lot of discussion among our members. We don’t yet have a comprehensive party policy on the topic, and all of the offshoot related issues. However, these are three basic statements we have agreed on:
  • We don’t like the monopoly imposed by NSLC.
  • We support studies into further potential medicinal uses of cannabis.
  • As with everything, climate change is a fundamental concern, so we want to ensure that the growing and production of cannabis products are as low impact as possible, minimizing GHG production.
At our recent AGM, we had a terrific panel presentation from Andrew McLaughlin of the Cannapy dispensary, Kenny Lord, active in cannabis business for years, and Myrna Gillis of the Aqualitas production facility.
If you want to discuss further, please feel welcome to reach out.
-Charlene Boyce, Co-President, Green Party of Nova Scotia

If you would like to contribute to future policy, become a member now, and join us on October 27 at our Policy Conference in Pictou.

Filed Under: General, Green Voices

Rise for Climate – September 8, 2018

September 12, 2018 By Charlene Boyce Leave a Comment

Green Party volunteer Leanne Chisholm organized the rally that took place last weekend. We are so grateful for all her hard work! She shares this report. If you would like to organize an event, please contact gpns@greenpartyns.ca!


Leanne Chisholm opens the Rise For Climate Change rally, September 17, 2018.
Leanne Chisholm opens the Rise For Climate Change rally, September 17, 2018.

By Leanne Chisholm

On Saturday, September 8 th , 2018 approximately 75 people came out to the Halifax Seaport Market to demand a fossil free future. The rally was in conjunction with over 900 other rallies on all 7 continents organized by a group called 350.org based in the United States. The rallies were timed to coincide with the Global Climate Action Summit being held in San Francisco, California. Over 250,000 people participated and yet the event was largely ignored by major media outlets.

Thomas Trappenburg and Jo-Ann Roberts spoke passionately to our group of protestors and we marched along the waterfront as far as Bishop’s Landing drawing attention to our cause and the Green Party.

I hope we can participate in this event again next year and promote the event on university campuses during orientation week to attract more young people to the event and inspire them to become members of the Green Party.

Filed Under: General, Green Voices Tagged With: climate change

President’s Submission to the Electoral Boundaries Commission

September 6, 2018 By Charlene Boyce Leave a Comment

Statement to the NS Electoral Boundaries Commission

From Charlene Boyce, co-President of the Nova Scotia Green Party

 

Good evening,

My name is Charlene Boyce. I am resident of Clayton Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia and I am the co-president of the Green Party of Nova Scotia.

The most effective way to ensure the democratically expressed wishes of a diverse electorate are reflected in government is to reform the electoral system to a system of proportional representation. Respectfully, although I acknowledge this is beyond the terms of reference of this group, I strongly believe this message should go into the formal record of proceedings. Many Nova Scotians, like our neighbors in Prince Edward Island, believe that proportional representation would better ensure government includes and recognizes diverse voices, like those of Acadian Nova Scotians, Black Nova Scotians, immigrants and those First Nations people who choose to participate in our system of government.

The Springtide Collective, among other groups, have done a wonderful job of developing education tools to help citizens understand these systems. They are easier to understand than a typical provincial budget!

Rather than focusing exclusively on geographic boundaries, I would like the government to consider electoral reform to ensure that everyone’s vote counts. Please consider proportional representation.

Thank you.

Charlene Boyce

Filed Under: General, Green Voices

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 5
  • Next Page »

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Recent Posts

  • Tick tock… building urgency
  • Carpooling for the October 27 SGM
Green Party of Nova Scotia @NSGreens
RT @jalexanderns: It was a packed room at the Fisheries Museum in Pictou today as @ElizabethMay and other Greens met with community members…

- 4 days ago

h J R
Green Party of Nova Scotia @NSGreens
RT @jalexanderns: "Greens will never sell out our collective future to gain some scuzzy political benefit." @ElizabethMay @CanadianGreens #…

- 5 days ago

h J R
Green Party of Nova Scotia @NSGreens
RT @AdamPOlsen: I stand with @Puglaas

- 11 days ago

h J R

Copyright © 2019 · Green Party of Nova Scotia · Log in