Good Sunday Morning! Happy New Year and we can still say Happy Christmas, today being the eleventh day! Eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming… and so it goes. I started pondering this ubiquitous song, so familiar and with no obvious connection to the Christmas story. Turns out it was first published in 1780 as a children’s memory game. Are memory games for children soon to be lost in a dangerous addiction to social media?.
Lately there have been a significant number of health warnings about early exposure to social media. Here is a recent quite balanced assessment from Johns Hopkins. I think Australia has it right in banning access to social media for those under 16, despite some obvious enforcement difficulties.
Certainly, it is long overdue to keep cell phones out of use in classrooms when our kids are supposed to be focused on learning.
Meanwhile, today my pipers are piping on Air Canada. and then to BC Ferries. As you read this, likely John and I are at 40K feet, heading home to BC after being near our new baby granddaughter for the holidays. We spent Christmas in Ontario where my daughter Cate has her father and half sister and family, whom I adore, and Cate’s partner’s whole family in the Toronto area. It gave John and me the opportunity for a rare night out at the theatre. His sister Annie Kidder, who, speaking of education, is a hero – founder of People for Education in Toronto – is married to one of Canada’s most extraordinary actors, Eric Peterson. On Sunday last week we saw Eric and an amazing cast, including Fiona Reid and so many more in Steven Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Lucky us!
As ever, Canada is a village, and I keep running into people I know. Even at the theatre in Toronto – the step-mother of our wonderful BC Green candidate from Kootenay Central, Nicole Charlwood!
The week moved quickly into political high gear. I have been so annoyed by President-elect Trump’s Canada bashing that I decided to do something about it – or at least try to get an oar in, with a Friday press conference at the Parliamentary Press Theatre in Ottawa. My small team had doubts. Would anyone show up on a Friday when Ottawa still feels shut down for the holidays? Would responding to Trump make any dent? I was surprised when I heard that CBC News was planning to broadcast the press conference live. It turned out a lot of press was hovering about in hopes of catching the prime minister, back in Ottawa after his holiday skiing in BC. We had an excellent turnout.
If you missed it, here is the whole presser thanks to CPAC.
And thanks to a great young member of the Green Party team for short snappers prepared for that social media menace I was mentioning earlier. Mercedes is whip smart and she told John and me that a social media post has to get the viewers’ attention in the first two seconds! I doubt I am cut out for this, but Mercedes did a great job so here are two posts you might want to share!
1) Canada will never be the 51st state, but we’d gladly welcome a few blue states to experience life in one of the best countries in the world.
2) Canada’s identity is worth celebrating and protecting, now and always.
For more fun, this is what my brilliant husband John Kidder did. He has sent it into the New Yorker, but has given me permission to share here:
“Hey Nearly President Trump, Canada has a GREAT DEAL for you. DON’T MISS THIS CHANCE.
“America needs to be Great Again. You, the ONLY REAL LEADER, are held back a bit by Too Many Democrats, weak-kneed wishy-washy Democrats, Democrats who think they are the Smart People, not the dumbest corruptest sickest and weakest people ever seen in your otherwise GREAT nation, greatest of all time except for them.
“Canada can fix this SO QUICKLY and SO EASILY, and give you Exactly What You Need for your very stable genius to shine through and SAVE AMERICA as only YOU can.
“If Canada accepted your Most Generous Invitation to join the very great United States of America, it could be a DISASTER for your very great plans. Think of all those Canadian leftists and Commies and gun control people and people who speak French – they would mostly vote with the Useless and Anti-American Democrats, and the Great MAGA Republican Party, now remade by YOU into the greatest political machine the world has Ever Seen, would never get elected again.
“Instead, we can offer you a Positive and Iron-Clad GUARANTEE that you could never FAIL to get elected. Such a good guarantee that you’d have all the votes you need even to get a Greater-Than-Great THIRD OR EVEN FOURTH TERM as the Guaranteed Greatest President EVER.
“Here’s the deal, and you won’t believe how GREAT it is. You don’t have to do anything at all, we’ll do All the Work, and you will get ALL THE CREDIT. Just imagine how all your millions of supporters and BILLIONS OF ADMIRERS AROUND THE WORLD will see again your Greatness and wish that they could have YOU for their own President or King or whatever they have.
“Just give Canada a few of these Lousy Ignorant States that vote Democrat – start with Washington, Oregon and northern California – that will ensure that You will be the Greatest President as LONG AS YOU WANT TO!! Great deal, for sure!!
“But wait, there’s more. Such a GREAT DEAL doesn’t need any sweeteners, but here’s a LITTLE SOMETHING ELSE – we could also trade you a billionaire or two for some nutbar RADICALS like Sorry Sanders and Clueless Cortez and Worthless Warren – they’d be right at home up in Canada with rest of the spineless leftists, and YOUR AMERICA would be way better off.
“But hurry, this FABULOUS OFFER will probably expire sometime. ACT NOW, and your Place In History as the VERY GREATEST LEADER THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN will be assured. We GUARANTEE it.
“Over to you, dear Mr. Almost-President. Our operators at the highest (such as they are) levels of our pitiful little government are waiting for YOUR VERY IMPORTANT CALL.”
So here’s a toast to 2025! And back to a different Christmas Carol – one with real meaning. Over to you Tiny Tim – “God bless us, every one!”
Have a great week and be back in touch soon! My Community Meetings are starting next week, so if you are in Saanich-Gulf Islands, have a look at the P.S.
Love
Elizabeth
P.S.
By the way, on Tuesday AM I will be on CBC early edition with Stephen Quinn.
Community Meeting Schedule:
January 11: Salt Spring Island – venue & time to be confirmed – hopefully at GISS. Once confirmed, date and time will be posted on the SGI Greens Events page here.
January 17: Sidney at Mary Winspear Centre from 7 – 8:30 pm
January 18: Saanich (afternoon) Cordova Bay, 55+ Association from 3 – 4:30 pm
January 18: Saanich (evening) Gordon Head at Gordon Head Recreation Centre from 7 – 8:30pm
January 22: Central Saanich Brentwood Bay Active Living Centre from 7 – 8:30 pm
(Pender, Mayne, Galiano and Saturna Islands will be scheduled in February/March)
Another note – January 19 at 1:30 pm you are invited to an award ceremony honouring Victoria’s Corey Levine for her work rescuing women MPs from Afghanistan. I will be there too, at the Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Society, Peretz Centre, 6184 Ash St (at 45th Ave) Vancouver.