Ian Gartshore

Let’s be frank: Fear motivates us! No wonder politicians love using it! Currently fear is being used in two different ways by political parties and “neutral third parties.” The Conservatives are masters at scaring people. They are constantly sending fear-invoking propaganda to their supporters. During this (and past) elections their main focus is to invoke fear in the electorate. They got some bang for their buck (for a while) by whipping up hatred against Muslims (the niqab issue), and are now using fear to shore up support from Conservatives moving their vote to other parties. When Canada was becoming a nation very similar tactics were used in 1849 in an attempt to keep Canada racially “pure,” that is, free of francophones. The current technique is the same, only the lingo has changed. In the words of a Huffington Post article ,“...the fear of francophones has been replaced by a fear of Muslims. Instead of rebellion, Stephen Harper talks about terrorism. Instead of...

Wow. I've never been to such an exciting political event in Nanaimo. The energy was positively electric! The federal Green Party AGM and nomination meeting for Nanaimo-Ladysmith was held on January 12th. It was opened very powerfully by Geraldine Manson, elder in residence of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. Then Paul Manly accepted the nomination in a speech that got better as he went along! The always amazing Elizabeth May then made promises to him (and us!) See both here .   Then Elizabeth gave a beautiful but short speech about how Paul's election, along with many other Greens (especially here on Vancouver Island) will provide the balance of power when the Conservatives are reduced to a minority government. Paul is a very strong candidate. He has been passionately involved in local, national and international events. He is the one who exposed the Quebec police acting as ill-behaved protesters at an international trade event. His films cover a wide...