The 2011 Canadian federal election is only a few weeks away, but the Carleton Campus Greens are ready. “[The government] can’t keep throwing the environment under the bus to save the economy,” said Jonathan Halasz, co-president of the Carleton Campus Greens.
“Especially in Canada where our economy is based on natural resources, because eventually there won’t be an environment left to exploit,” Halasz said.
The 2011 election will mostly revolve around the issue of the federal budget, but the party will not find itself out of place. “The Green Party is more than simply an environmental party,” said the group’s other co-president Anika Sparling. “It has a full platform on a multitude of issues concerning Canadians.”
The Green movement at Carleton has been revitalized over the past two years by Halasz and Sparling, both second-year political science students. They say a Green presence at Carleton is needed now more than ever as the May 2 federal election approaches.
The Green Party’s usual platform of environmental policies is bolstered this year by a promise to restore civility to the debates in the House of Commons, which have long been subject to unruly behaviour.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May is also pressing federal parties to collaborate to increase youth employment.
“We need a new program, something that gets job training to Canadian youth, something that gets them the jobs they want, something that helps them get through university without emerging with a horrific student debt,” she stated in a public address.
The relatively small number of Green Party supporters throughout Canada is pushing the Greens to work hard at drawing out the youth vote in targeted ridings. May herself is turning down a nationwide tour to campaign in her own riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.
The Carleton Campus Greens remain enthusiastic about the election. “Our goal for this election is to get as many people in the Green Party elected as possible,” Sparling said. “We want to have candidates running in all 308 ridings in Canada to show we are truly a national party.”
“A vote for the Green Party is a vote for real change, for policies that are based on scientific facts instead of gut instincts,” said Halasz.
He plans to campaign hard for Ottawa-Centre’s Green Party candidate, Jennifer Hunter. Sparling said she planned to return home to Yellowknife after exams to help the Greens campaign in her riding of Western Arctic.