Maybe one reason why so many young people have not been engaged in politics much
is that adults have wanted to protect them from what had become a rather hopeless
and unproductive process. But maybe all that can change.

Briony Penn once said of this riding that it has a “peculiar ability to mimic
future national political trends”. If this assessment is correct, maybe we can
allow ourselves to feel hopeful. Not really because a certain party has elected its first MP here, but because
politics has become something we can wish for our children to be involved in. The
night Briony conceded victory to Gary Lunn, she urged him to work towards a more
civil parliament, respect for democracy and its institutions. When she stepped
down from the stage at that Conservative victory party, a woman who was friends
with her parents came up to her, to tell her that her parents would have been
proud of her that night.

Almost three years later we did something in this riding that almost no one
believed we could do: we elected Elizabeth May, a woman who has dedicated her life
to protecting the things that are under vicious assault from the
consumption-growth cancer of our current economic system.

There is certainly something special about our community, with its hig levels of
volunteer involvement, citizens willing to set aside partisanship for the greater
good, the highest level of voter participation in all of Canada – and it is being
noticed. For intance, read film-maker/activist Damien Gillis’ article on
“Bottling that magic salt spring formula”.

I feel so lucky to live here! What is wonderful about this place was epitomized
when I went into the midwifery clinic where the Green party office was on election
day. To me, if felt a bit like entering a sacred space. Here were these people I
love, who had put their lives on hold to do this amazing thing. They were working
to make sure everyone who wanted to, even if they did not have an address to call
home or other trappings of “success”, got their chance to vote. There was this
quiet joy in that office of new birth – and even outside, as I wandered around
town, beaming at people as we lived this historic moment.

Where do we go from here? It is tempting to want to grow the Green party. I know
many across the country who are inspired by the “Vision Green” platform it has
offered us, available not just in time for elections, but 365 days a year. I sense
there is huge potential there.

But I know that there is good within each human being, also within the ranks of
each of our political parties. I believe Elizabeth has a special gift for bringing
out the best in people, and that ought really to be our goal – to connect with
what is best in others towards protecting the things that make life worth living.
This is something we can work towards across party lines and this is a kind of
politics we can be happy to invite our kids to be involved in.