I love this video.  I love this guy… the guy in the hat…



I love this video. 

I love this guy… the guy in the hat is my husband Bob Jonkman, the 2019 Green Party of Canada Candidate in Brantford—Brant, Ontario.  As Canada uses an archaic Winner-Take-All voting system (similar to the US, UK and Australia) he didn’t win.  This time.  

I love this song.  It was a tiny tune created by my favorite contemporary musician, the talented Josh Woodward.  Everything Josh creates is released with a Creative Commons Attribution license.  This video is likewise CC-By.

What this means is that any Green Party can use it.  Free of charge.  

Liner Notes:

For those of you who aren’t up on the Canadian Greens, I’ll give you a little background. 

The video is bookended by the GPC’s awesome leader, Elizabeth May.  She’s been the leader for 13 years, and the fact our Green Party is doing as well as it is has a lot to do with that.  

• Our Green Party’s “Green New Deal” was called “Mission: Possible,” and the opening line is something she said at the Kitchener GPC campaign launch. 
• The minnows are swimming in Cypress Lake, at a favorite camping spot, in  Bruce Peninsula National Park near Tobermory.
• The Tree planting footage was recorded in the spring in Paris, Ontario.  
• The CC-By temperature visualization was created by Antti Lipponen from data provided by Berkeley Earth/Robert Rohde http://berkeleyearth.org/
• The sign waving was in Brantford.
• The footage of Bob talking to people was at the Brant Greens booth at the Paris Fair.  In the background, some of our volunteers are helping kids make their own buttons, a bit of gratis outreach we make as part of our community involvement. 
• The Circle Dance was at a Rise for Climate event in Waterloo
• Bob joined Cambridge candidate Michele Braniff and friends at the Cambridge for for the first “Green Wave” segment
• for “the mountains” I used a clip of Paul Manly, recorded at the 2016 GPC Special General Meeting, before he became the second elected Canadian Green, now the re-elected Member of Parliament for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Electoral District
• for “to the seaway” I used footage of the second elected PEI Greens MLA, Hannah Bell, speaking at the 2018 Green Party of Ontario convention in Guelph (alongside PEI Greens leader Peter Bevan-Baker)
• The second “Green Wave” begins with GPO leader Mike Schreiner  “mainstreeting” in Kitchener with the 2018 provincial election with the five Waterloo Region Greens candidates (Bob Jonkman, Michele Braniff, David Weber, Stacey Danckert and Zdravko Gunjevic) …
• … then cuts to Milton candidate Eleanor Hayward and friends at Elizabeth May’s “Community Matters” town hall in Guelph
• Guelph candidate Steve Dyck speaking to the crowd at the 2019 Platform Release in Guelph
• “Together” takes us back in Kitchener, where southern Ontario GPC Green Candidates Steve Dyck, Michele Braniff, David Weber, Kristin Wright,
Collan Simmons, Stephanie Goertz, Bob Jonkman and Nicholas Wendler join GPC leader Elizabeth May and GPO leader Mike Schreiner in support of the Mike Morrice campaign launch
• Elizabeth May’s back again, tying it all up at the end with a punch line that was part of her answer to a question posed by the youngest Green Party member at the “Community Matters” event in Guelph

Welcome WRGreens Candidates

WRGreens second nomination meeting has filled our slate of 2019 WRGreens candidates.  Congratualations!

Cambridge GPC Candidate

  • Michele Braniff

Kitchener—Conestoga GPC Candidate

  • Stephanie Goertz

Kitchener South—Hespeler GPC Candidate

David Weber, Kitchener South—Hespeler Candidate makes his case

  • David Weber

Mingling

Music

Networking

Cambridge, Kitchener—Conestoga and Kitchener South—Hespeler Candidate Nominees
Candidate Nominees: Cambridge: Michele Braniff, Kitchener—Conestoga: Stephanie Goertz,
Kitchener South—Hespeler: Ian Graham, Archie Henderson, David Weber

With all our candidates chosen, our 2019 candidates first official outing was the following Saturday’s pancake flipping team at the 2019 Elmira Maple Syrup Festival.

In 2015 WRGreens only female candidate was Michele Braniff in Cambridge.  In 2018 we got closer to gender balance when Stacey Danckert ran in Kitchener Centre provincially.  But now, in 2019, we are especially pleased to note the WRGreens gender imbalance now swings the other way, with 3 of our 5 (60%) candidates being women.

THE FULL SLATE

Congratulations to all our 2019 candidates!

David Weber                Michele Braniff             Stephanie Goertz            Kirsten Wright             Mike Morrice
Kitchener South—Hespeler  •   Cambridge    •   Kitchener—Conestoga      •     Waterloo      •     Kitchener Centre

 

 

 

 

WRGreens Candidate Nominations THURSDAY April 4th!

Waterloo Region Green Party of Canada Nominations

Thursday, 4 April 2019 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Come vote for your riding’s Green Party candidate for the 2019 Federal Election!
Whether you’re a GPC member or just considering green, you’re welcome to come along and hear from the candidate nominees and find out about the Green Wave growing in Waterloo Region and across Canada.

Cambridge Nominee

  • Michele Braniff

Michele was unable to attend the WRGreens preNomination meeting so there is no available video. Instead, we can present this tail end of the speech she gave at the Cambridge Greens launch last year.

As this would be Michele’s 3rd time running for the Green Party, you can check our more of her past election videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3lnrg4_SI&list=PLM8NcWI58uu5AaNIMguCVNSvWQZTHjiL4

Kitchener—Conestoga Nominee

  • Stephanie Goertz

Kitchener South—Hespeler Nominees

    • David Weber

This would be David’s 4th time running for the Green Party, so you can see more of him in past election debates: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM8NcWI58uu466PNnvdfbhlRheVekOiwl

    • Ian Graham
  • Archie Henderson

Unfortunately Mr Henderson wasn’t at the prenomination event, so you’ll have to come out to the event to hear from him!

There will still be a contest for districts with only one nominee; the ballot also has a choice for “None Of The Above”.

In order to vote for a candidate your membership must have been activated by 6 March 2019, or if you have an expired membership you can renew it before or at the event.

6:30pm Doors open (hear the music)
7:15pm Official business gets underway: Introductions, hear from the candidate nominees and voting will ensue!
Musical performances will be scattered through the night and we’ll end with an opportunity to socialize. There’ll be light refreshments and additional food and beverage service will be available. Come early for a pre-event dinner!

What: Joint Nomination Contest for Cambridge, Kitchener—Conestoga, Kitchener South—Hespeler
When: Thursday, 4 April 2019 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Where: Edelweiss Tavern
Location: 600 Doon Village Road, Kitchener, Ontario Map 1


Omnibus #Bill66 meets Municipal Councils

Bob Jonkman’s Bill 66 delegation to Woolwich Township’s Committee of The Whole. (Tuesday Jan. 8th, 2019)

Since Premier Ford wants to quickly push Omnibus Bill 66 though the Legislative Assembly of Ontario quickly, things are moving very fast.

On Tuesday morning Bob Jonkman was among the WRGreens attending the Region of Waterloo’s tabling of the staff report on Bill 66.   GREN’s Kevin Thomason made a presentation on behalf of the ad hoc coalition of Waterloo Region groups mobilizing against Bill 66 which was very well received, and two motions were adopted by the Region then and there.

On Tuesday night, Sam Nabi (Hold The Line WR) made a presentation to Wellesley Township, while a simultaneous delegation was made to Woolwich Township’s Committee of the Whole by Bob Jonkman, representing KWPeace.  Woolwich Council will be putting together a resolution to be tabled at next week’s Woolwich Township Council Meeting.

If you can come out to any of these Municipal Council Meetings (and bring your friends), it will send a string message to our local councils that this is very important to us.  With the Provincial Government  listening to the developers who elected them, the more seats we can fill, the better.  We need to exercise our grass roots, because that’s the only power we’ve got.

Monday, January 14th, 2019

David Weber, Shannon Purves-Smith and Mo Markham

3:00pm City of Waterloo Council Presentation
4:00pm City of Kitchener Council Presentation
7:00pm – Wilmot Township Council Presentation

Tuesday, January  15th, 2019

7:00pm  City of Cambridge Council Presentation
7:00pm  Woolwich Township Council Presentation #2

Monday, Jan 21st, 2019

7:00pm – North Dumfries Township Presentation

Part of the urgency is the upcoming deadline for the Ontario Bill of Rights.

It’s been a while since I’ve made regular posts here on Visual…



It’s been a while since I’ve made regular posts here on Visual Laurel because I’ve been swept up in the 2018 Ontario Election as campaign manager for my husband, the Green Party Candidate for Kitchener—Conestoga.

Over the last few years the five Waterloo Region Greens ridings have been working together, setting roots in our communities, establishing an online presence, and working hard raising our Green profile.  

As disappointing as the overall winner-take-all result was (giving a party with only 40% of the vote 100% of the power), I am really very pleased that all five of our WRGreens candidates— 

• David Weber (Kitchener South—Hespeler),
• Stacey Danckert (Kitchener Centre),
• Bob Jonkman (Kitchener—Conestoga),
• Michele Braniff (Cambridge), and
• Zdravko Gunjevic (Waterloo) 

— finished in the top 20% of the Green Party of Ontario.  Bravo!

And we are all extraordinarily pleased that in this election, the GPO did indeed achieve our primary election goal: the Ontario Green Party made history!  The citizens of Guelph saw the wisdom in electing GPO Leader Mike Schreiner to represent them, so now, for the very first time in history, a Green Party MPP will sit in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

This is the beginning of doing politics differently.   

Congratulations Mike!

 Thank you Ontario!

It’s been a while since I’ve made regular posts here on Visual…



It’s been a while since I’ve made regular posts here on Visual Laurel because I’ve been swept up in the 2018 Ontario Election as campaign manager for my husband, the Green Party Candidate for Kitchener—Conestoga.

Over the last few years the five Waterloo Region Greens ridings have been working together, setting roots in our communities, establishing an online presence, and working hard raising our Green profile.  

As disappointing as the overall winner-take-all result was (giving a party with only 40% of the vote 100% of the power), I am really very pleased that all five of our WRGreens candidates— 

• David Weber (Kitchener South—Hespeler),
• Stacey Danckert (Kitchener Centre),
• Bob Jonkman (Kitchener—Conestoga),
• Michele Braniff (Cambridge), and
• Zdravko Gunjevic (Waterloo) 

— finished in the top 20% of the Green Party of Ontario.  Bravo!

And we are all extraordinarily pleased that in this election, the GPO did indeed achieve our primary election goal: the Ontario Green Party made history!  The citizens of Guelph saw the wisdom in electing GPO Leader Mike Schreiner to represent them, so now, for the very first time in history, a Green Party MPP will sit in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

This is the beginning of doing politics differently.   

Congratulations Mike!

 Thank you Ontario!

More Pictures of the National Day of Action on Electoral Reform, 11 Feb 2017

Pictures from the National Day of Action on Electoral Reform held Saturday, 11 February 2017 at Carl Zehr Square at Kitchener City Hall.

Photos by Laurel L. Russwurm.

Sign: Make My Vote Count

Sign

People listening to speakers

Listening to speakers

Sign: Trudeau broke his promise

Sign

People rallying

Rallying

Sam Nabi

Sam Nabi

Catherine Fife

Catherine Fife

Richard Walsh

Richard Walsh

Sign: Perform On Reform

Perform On Reform

Sign: Support Voter Reform | Make Every Vote Count | for Equity, Social Justice, Climate Justice

Justice

Two signs: Proportional Representation for a Better Democracy | "First Past The Post", Abuse of Dominance, Abuse of Rights, Bad Corporate Behaviour

Signs

David Weber

David Weber

Sign: How Can We Reach Consensus If We Don't Understand Their Alternatives

Consensus

Supporter in the audience

Supporter

Sign: Nobody believes Liberal excuses

No-o-o-obody!

Sam Nabi and Sharon Sommerville

Sam Nabi and Sharon Sommerville

Unhappy citizens in the audience

Unhappy Citizens

Anita Nickerson

Anita Nickerson

An audience member taking pictures

Taking pictures

Sign: 39 ≠ 100

39 ≠ 100

Sign: Justin, You Promised | Make Every Vote Count

Protesting

Catherine Fife

Catherine Fife

Sign: Perform On Reform

Big sign

People in the audience

Rallying

Sign: I want my vote to count

Little sign

Nadia Matos and a camera

CTV News

@Lulex (Louisette Lanteigne) holding a sign: Support Voter Reform | Make Every Vote Count | for Equity, Social Justice, Climate Justice

@Lulex

Bob Jonkman

Bob Jonkman

Sharon Sommerville

Sharon Sommerville

Photographer

Photographer

Tiger Hat

Tiger Hat

Sign: Democracy demands trust | R.I.P. Democracy | PR -- the peoples choice | Lies -- the Prime Ministers

Sign

Oz Cole-Arnal

Oz Cole-Arnal

Mo Markham

Mo Markham

Sign in the gallery: Make My Vote Count

Gallery

Louisette Lanteigne

Louisette Lanteigne

Food Not Bombs

Food Not Bombs

Aden Seaman

Aden Seaman

Stacey Danckert

Stacey Danckert

Lunch is served

Lunch is served

Alim Nathoo

Alim Nathoo

Hat embroidered with the Liberal logo and "Real Betrayal"

Real Betrayal

Rallying dog

Rallying dog

Sign: Just-In | Nous Sommes Canadiens | Not Fringe | We Believed You | Believe In Us | And Just-ice

Nous Sommes Canadiens

Sign: The 1% is the "Fringe" Group PM Trudeau Should Worry About | #PR Now

The 1%

Photos are copyright ©2017 by the photographers, and used under a CC BY-SACreative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.

Other pictures of the National Day of Action on Electoral Reform

This video is from the second Stop Bill C-51 Day of Action in…



This video is from the second Stop Bill C-51 Day of Action in Waterloo Region last year.  


Online Consultation on National Security

Today is the last day Canadians can participate in the online consultation.
Please participate, even if it is only to tell the government to repeal Bill C-51

If you’re new to this issue, Bill C-51 – The Antiterrorism Act, 2015 is my backgrounder to this most concerning issue.