Hi Friend,
In less than 48 hours, the New Year will be banging on our doors. It will barge in, whether we want it or not. I don’t know how it is for you, but for me, it is always a time of introspection, remembrance and reckoning. My year started horribly.
On January 1, 2022, I welcomed the New Year with friends, watching fireworks (which I profoundly dislike, like many accustomed to war zones). I didn’t know at that point that I would soon find myself compelled to leave a job I liked and Norway, a country I had lived in for five years, to engage in politics here, back home.
That turning point happened on February 24, when a former colleague called me at 3am local time, asking me to grab my flack jacket and helmet and board on the first flight to Warsaw.
War - this sickening disease - had struck Europe once more. With it, its inevitable carnival of pain, horrors, broken families and sorrowed landscapes.
In between air raid sirens, over the phone from Lviv, I interviewed mothers who had to do the Heimlich maneuver on their unconscious children as they climbed down hospital staircases to the safety of dark basements whenever jets flew over Kherson or Kharkiv, threatening to drop their deadly loads.
I had been to many conflict areas over the past 14 years, but it now felt like I had sleepwalked into a World War II movie set. Yet, it was all too real. And it is not over.
As the world only just begins to cope with the devastating impacts of a rise in average temperatures of 1.2 Celsius, we cannot afford more of this large scale conflict.
Remember the Pakistan floods, the dry riverbeds in China and Europe, the drought in BC, the hurricanes in Florida and the Atlantic this year? With 0.3 degrees left before we get to the Paris agreement’s best case scenario, we must brace ourselves for difficult times ahead.
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This is why I decided to return home and engage in politics. I love this country. It gave me - a gay, mixed-race son of a single mother growing up in fairly unprivileged circumstances – extraordinary opportunities. To study. To live peacefully. To not have to fear to be who I am and love who I will. But this return also came at a cost; a well-paid job, a nice place of my own in a country that will forever remain my second home, good friends I loved and miss.
It came at a cost and as a big gamble, for the idea to run for co-leadership with Elizabeth was far from a given when I decided to take that step. Furthermore, we faced formidable competition from extraordinary candidates whom I am now grateful to call friends. While our co-leadership ticket prevailed in the end, it was all a big gamble. And one that has yet to deliver. For my motivation in engaging in politics is not to win, but have the greatest impact possible. And that desired impact is clear to me: help this country off its fossil fuel addiction, prepare our communities for the coming storms and combat the growing inequalities that have turned us into strangers to one another.
Why then not chose the Liberals or the NDP? Because neither is reliable, nor honest. Because neither is ready to tell it to Canadians as it is. And it is not pretty. Which is why we need the Greens more than ever. If we are to prepare for the times to come, we must first acknowledge how difficult times currently are and how difficult they will be. This is our only way to make it to the other side, save lives and continue to preserve the things that make our country one of the best in the world in which to live.
In these trying times, I chose the Greens. I urge you to now bank on us and give us a chance to change Canadian politics for the better.
In less than 48h, 2023 will be barging through, full of promise and hope. It’s up to each and everyone of us to make sure they fulfill themselves. By donating today to the Green Party of Canada, you can still benefit from your 2022 tax credit while helping us rebuild this party.
We have much work to do. We need you. The future is green. It must be green. Are you in?
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I look forward to your solidarity to continue the journey with you in 2023.
Happy New Year!
JP
P.S. – Did you know you can get up to 75 per cent of your donation back with your tax credit? It's the most cost effective way to support Green politics.
The tax credit is calculated as below:
- Donations between $0 and $400: give you a 75 per cent refund
- Donations between $400 and $750: give you $300 plus 50 per cent of any amount over $400
- Donations over $750: give you $475 plus 33 1/3 per cent of any amount over $750 up to a maximum of $650 per year
If you’re not sure how the credit applies to you, we’d be happy to help. Email us at [email protected].