Canadian social psychologist Jamie Gruman is proposing a new way of achieving nirvana: Do nothing.

Instead, live in the moment and embrace the “serene and contented acceptance of life as it is, with no ambitions of acquisition, accomplishment or progress toward goals,” said Gruman, co-founder of the newly created Canadian Positive Psychology Association, a network of scholars and academics studying human well-being and happiness.

Psychology has long focused on our inner torment: understanding why people get depressed or anxious, and how to alleviate it. The emphasis has been on “disorders,” “deficits,” “neuroses” and the need for “therapy.”

…the notion of a healthy national psyche is being embraced more openly by economists, politicians and political scientists around the globe, including in Canada, where, for example, Green Party leader Elizabeth May recently introduced a private member’s bill in the House of Commons meant to develop a set of indicators to measure “the real health and well-being of people.” A United Nations expert panel earlier this year called for nations around the globe to track the happiness of their people, arguing that economic wealth doesn’t equal psychological health.

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The post When life hands you lemons: the new science of positive thinking appeared first on Elizabeth May.

The debate at Third Reading continued to reveal that Conservative Members of Parliament had no grasp of the act, so as a last attempt to shake them into integrity, I challenged all Conservatives to a small quiz to test their knowledge of the act — open-book, 15 minutes long, and multiple choice. I offered a tree planting ceremony with them in their riding to anyone who passed.

Sadly, none of them showed up.  The law of averages suggests that at least one MP would give it a shot.  The failure of even one Conservative MP to show up persuades me that they were ordered by the Prime Minister’s Office to stay away.  One Independent MP, former NDP MP, Bruce Hyer took the test and got 100%.  (He was quite relieved.)

Stephen Harper’s legislative strategy can be described as “might makes right.”  It was a foregone conclusion that if the Prime Minister maintained maximum pressure on his MPs and rejected any possible compromise, the bill would be passed.  Introduced for First Reading on April 26, moving like a freight train through hearings before the Finance Committee and its sub-committees, it went to Report Stage without so much as a semi-colon removed.  And then unchanged through Report Stage.   It goes against every aspect of  Parliamentary democracy that even helpful amendments must be crushed.  The process is no longer about public policy or good legislation.  It is all a war. Stephen Harper clearly believes that allowing MPs to improve legislation is a sign of weakness.

While Mr. Harper won this battle, it was a pyrrhic victory. All major national media, even Canada’s most conservative paper, the National Post, has condemned the omnibus approach as illegitimate:

…the contempt that the Tories have shown for the democratic process is unacceptable, and inexplicable. Such a hardball tactic might have been justifiable when the Conservatives held only a minority, but now, it seems simply like a bad habit the Conservatives are in need of shaking.

Perhaps they will. As was reported in last Friday’s National Post, there are reports that Conservative insiders are as unhappy with how the government has behaved as is the opposition, and rumours that the Tories are facing a grassroots backlash. There is reportedly concern that such tactics will ultimately damage the Conservative brand, alienating voters well ahead of the next election. (National Post editorial, June 17, 2012)

The unhappy backbenchers showed more signs of the strain than has occurred to date in this government.  Meanwhile, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has promised a second omnibus budget bill for the fall. 

In some good news, I tabled a private members bill on June 19: A Genuine Progress Indicators Measurement Act.  And in putting it forward, I was able to read into the record the following from the late Senator Bobby Kennedy, from 1968, with a quality of ideas so rarely heard on Parliament Hill:

“Too much and too long, we have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things….The (GDP) counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

The Genuine Progress Indicator Measurement Act, Bill C-436, will attempt to measure those things that make life worthwhile. It will require Parliament to determine a set of meaningful indicators of natural capital and human well-being.  These measurements will then form the basis of an annual report from the Commissioner on Environment and Sustainable Development, within the office of the Auditor General.

Which has a certain irony as I witness a Prime Minister determined to undermine all those critical elements of our legislation and regulations that ensure healthy ecosystems, while removing statistical measurements, eliminating scientific monitoring and silencing critics. 

As Canada marches backward, we desperately need to assess the cost.  We need to know how to chart a course to genuine progress.

The post As Parliament rises for the summer… appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Re ‘Wrong by any measure,’ John Robson, June 25.

John Robson seems to think my private member’s bill for a Genuine Progress Index is something I invented. In fact, the growing call for more meaningful indices of progress has been championed by Nobel Prize winners in economics Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen.

Their report, originally commissioned by the former Conservative government of France, has now been supported by the OECD.

Contrary to the impression created by your columnist, the idea is not fanciful, nor designed to measure happiness. It is designed to avoid the mistake of failing to measure natural capital, such that the last cod harvested off Newfoundland and Labrador in 1993 registered as positive to the GDP — even as 30,000 people were thrown out of work and the fishery was shut down.

Elizabeth May
Green Party Leader

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The post GPI is nothing fanciful appeared first on Elizabeth May.

The debate at Third Reading continued to reveal that Conservative Members of Parliament had no grasp of the act, so as a last attempt to shake them into integrity, I challenged all Conservatives to a small quiz to test their knowledge of the act — open-book, 15 minutes long, and multiple choice. I offered a tree planting ceremony with them in their riding to anyone who passed.

Sadly, none of them showed up.  The law of averages suggests that at least one MP would give it a shot.  The failure of even one Conservative MP to show up persuades me that they were ordered by the Prime Minister’s Office to stay away.  One Independent MP, former NDP MP, Bruce Hyer took the test and got 100%.  (He was quite relieved.).

Stephen Harper’s legislative strategy can be described as “might makes right.”  It was a foregone conclusion that if the Prime Minister maintained maximum pressure on his MPs and rejected any possible compromise, the bill would be passed.  Introduced for First Reading on April 26, moving like a freight train through hearings before the Finance Committee and its sub-committees, it went to Report Stage without so much as a semi-colon removed.  And then unchanged through Report Stage.   It goes against every aspect of  Parliamentary democracy that even helpful amendments must be crushed.  The process is no longer about public policy or good legislation.  It is all a war. Stephen Harper clearly believes that allowing MPs to improve legislation is a sign of weakness.

While Mr. Harper won this battle, it was a Pyrrhic victory. All major national media, even Canada’s most conservative paper, the National Post, has condemned the omnibus approach as illegitimate:

…the contempt that the Tories have shown for the democratic process is unacceptable, and inexplicable. Such a hardball tactic might have been justifiable when the Conservatives held only a minority, but now, it seems simply like a bad habit the Conservatives are in need of shaking.

Perhaps they will. As was reported in last Friday’s National Post, there are reports that Conservative insiders are as unhappy with how the government has behaved as is the opposition, and rumours that the Tories are facing a grassroots backlash. There is reportedly concern that such tactics will ultimately damage the Conservative brand, alienating voters well ahead of the next election. (National Post editorial, June 17, 2012)

 The unhappy backbenchers showed more signs of the strain than has occurred to date in this government.  Meanwhile, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has promised a second omnibus budget bill for the fall.

In some good news, I tabled two private members bills just before adjournment. On June 19, I tabled  A Genuine Progress Indicators Measurement Act and on the very last day of the session, June 21, my bill to create a National Lyme Disease Strategy got First Reading.

In putting forward the bill for Genuine Progress Indicators, I read into the record the following from the late Senator Bobby Kennedy, from 1968:

“Too much and too long, we have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things….The (GDP) counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

The Genuine Progress Indicator Measurement Act, Bill C-436, will attempt to measure those things that make life worthwhile. It will require Parliament to determine a set of meaningful indicators of natural capital and human well-being.  These measurements will then form the basis of an annual report from the Commissioner on Environment and Sustainable Development, within the office of the Auditor General.

Which has a certain irony as I witness a Prime Minister determined to undermine all those critical elements of our legislation and regulations that ensure healthy ecosystems, while removing statistical measurements, eliminating scientific monitoring and silencing critics.

As Canada marches backward, we desperately need to assess the cost.  We need to know how to chart a course to genuine progress.

The post As Parliament rises for the summer… appeared first on Elizabeth May.

This Bill will require the Government of Canada, through the offices of the Chief Statistician and Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, to develop a set of indicators to measure the real health and well-being of people, communities and ecosystems in Canada, to be made accessible to Canadians and reviewed regularly by the Environment Committee.

“While not costing Canadian taxpayers a dime, this Bill will borrow the best practices from groups that are already doing great work in this area, and incorporate considerations such as impacts on literacy rates, income inequality, and the health of our environment into decisions made by the Government of Canada”, explained May. 

Although Canada is struggling to play catch-up, initiatives similar to this are gaining momentum and beginning to influence the decisions made by politicians and business leaders around the world. Prominent recent examples include the OECD’s Better Life Index, the United Nations Gross National Happiness Index, and our own Canadian Index of Wellbeing, headed by Roy Romanow and housed at the University of Waterloo.

“At its core, Bill C-436 represents an understanding that the economy and the environment are inextricably linked. While the Harper Conservatives cling to outdated notions of progress, pushing pipelines and oil tankers at the expense of our clean air and water, we need better tools to understand why such a narrow-minded and short-term focus on GDP will ultimately cost Canadians much more over the long term.”

As she introduced the Bill in the House of Commons today, Elizabeth May quoted the late US Senator Robert Kennedy at length:

“Too much and too long we seem to have surrendered community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulance to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead and armoured cars and police who fight riots in our streets. It counts the knife and the rifle and television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet, the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, the intelligence of our public debate, the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning. It measures everything in short except that which makes life worthwhile.”

The post May Tables Bill C-436, the Canada Genuine Progress Measurement Act appeared first on Elizabeth May.

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She said: Mr. Speaker, I rise with great pleasure today to introduce a bill that had come before this House in previous incarnations by previous members of Parliament. I have updated it. It is looking to provide indicators of the measurements that really matter.

There has been a lot of work done on the issue of genuine progress indicators in contradistinction to simply measuring the health of our society through the gross domestic product and other indicators which are simply measurements of the exchange of cash in transactions.

I draw particular attention to the recent work that was performed by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, in conjunction with Professor Amartya Sen and Professor Fitoussi. It was done at the behest of the French government, but has now picked up general support through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

I would like not to use my own words, but to briefly quote the late Senator Robert Kennedy, who said just weeks before his death in 1968:

Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product…counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts [the] rifle and [the] knife, and television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. 

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry…the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning….

In fact, Senator Kennedy concluded:

–it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Press Release: http://elizabethmaymp.ca/news/publications/press-releases/2012/06/19/may-tables-bill-c-436-the-canada-genuine-progress-measurement-act/]

[Private Members Bill: http://elizabethmaymp.ca/wp-content/uploads/C-436.pdf]

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