So Bruce Wark of Halifax’s The
Coast has taken the time, as journalists can, to gently lead a new story
into the world of my reading – apparently,
the little tiny Greens are having a little tiny crisis:
a former Green Party leader named Joan Russow and three
high-profile colleagues had quit the Greens to join the NDP. Russow’s three
colleagues sent blistering, bellicose letters to party members last October
explaining why they were quitting. They accused the new Green Party leader, Jim
Harris, of acting like a dictator.Over a phone line from Toronto, Jim Harris tells me he was elected Green
Party leader just over a year ago. He says the high-profile resignations were
“strictly a personality conflict” adding, “the people who quit the party were
involved in obstructionism.” Harris acknowledges he was once a Tory worried
about government deficits until he realized in the 1980s that the planet was
carrying a crushing ecological debt with more species going extinct every hour.
“So I shifted from being a fiscal conservative to being an ecological one.” When
asked about his political philosophy, he says the terms “right” and “left” are
irrelevant. “We say we are fiscally responsible, socially progressive and
committed to environmental sustainability.” Harris is a 43-year-old motivational
speaker who conducts seminars and writes books to help business leaders focus on
change, “innovation” and “creating learning institutions.” He co-authored The
100 Best Companies to Work for in Canada—a bestseller that sold over 50,000
copies.
Holy scratchy face tree huggers, Batman. Doesn’t sound
like the drum beaters I voted for in the last Federal and Provincial elections.
This is going to make me have a good hard think over my next camomile tea.