Green decision denies freedom

Surprise could hardly describe reaction to the Green Party issuing a warning to well-known citizen and community supporter Jamie Larkin, for his endorsement of PC leadership candidate Sarah Stewart-Clark. I thought the idea of a person belonging exclusively to one political party went out with the last balanced provincial budget.

We understand it is important for political parties to sell party memberships and raise funds to support party activities. But for party officials to expect a person to believe that you can only support one political party in this day and age is like saying if you have two or more chronic medical problems, you are limited to treating only one. It is also an insult to a person’s intelligence.

Granted the parties love the membership drive for funding purposes but it also gives them an indication of how much support they have within the community. When the support is strong, as it often is in the First-Past-the-Post system, the major parties are quite happy to go to an election without any political platform, meaning no accountability. Any political party constitution that has a bylaw prohibiting party members from publicly promoting or endorsing another party is a denial of a person’s right to freedom of association. Citizens are encouraged to join all political parties. Compare the party platforms. Maybe then political parties will realize they must do better to earn voters’ support. And perhaps then the humanity of life will surpass the need for economic growth and global degradation. Wayne Carver, Long Creek