In a catalogue of alleged failings of the Green Party of Canada, (editorial July 30, 2014) the most absurd claim is that of moral relativism. We are the only party left in Canada to have principles and stick to them.

The Conservatives were once thought of as a party of fiscal responsibility, yet Stephen Harper has added to the national debt and expanded the size of government. His promises of accountability are buried under scandals of the culture of entitlement he once decried.

The New Democrats once championed the poor and down-trodden, but now clamor to appeal to the middle class calling not for guaranteed annual income, but for lower banking fees.

The Liberals stand less condemned, if only because their approach to principle was always pretty flexible – big tent and all. Still, the support for the Keystone and Kinder Morgan pipelines while opposing Enbridge suggests polling as a basis for position.

The Green Party of Canada, along with Green parties around the world, stand on six global green values: participatory democracy, social justice, ecological wisdom, non-violence, sustainability, and respect for diversity.

In the context of conflicts around the world, we are anything but moral relativists. The reason I was the only Member of Parliament in June 2011 to vote against the continued aerial bombardment of Libya was that Green principles of non-violence and promotion of a culture of peace made voting for bombing impossible. There were peace talks rejected as we joined the side of those calling for Gadafi’s head. It was clear when Parliament voted to keep up the bombing that the side we supported included al-Qaida-linked extremists. It was clear that warehouses full of munitions would flood into other countries and lead to greater instability, loss of life and chaos. It was clear that shifting our mission statement from Responsibility to Protect (R2P) innocent civilians to regime change would cost us down the road and remove the possibility of relying on the R2P doctrine to intervene in Syria.

In the case of the current Israel-Gaza conflict, it is critical that positions be based on international law. Pursuing peace cannot be discarded as unrealistic. It should be possible for all Canadian political parties to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization and to demand it cease its shelling of Israel. It should be possible for all other political leaders to continue to press for a two-state solution, one that defends the right of the State of Israel to exist, but equally calls for a secure Palestinian state. It is simply not credible to take the stance of all three other leaders (Messrs Harper, Mulcair and Trudeau) that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s siege of Gaza is legal and meets humanitarian standards. It does not. The death toll among Gaza’s civilians provokes the conscience of the world. Hamas is to blame for provocation, but to imagine that Israel is blameless is untenable.

We are the only party that bases our decisions on evidence. That is why we may take positions ahead of the “group-think” curve, calling for caution on newer technologies while others throw caution to the wind. We have been consistent about climate policies, while other parties treat the greatest threat to our children’s future as “flavour of the month.”

Our budgetary plans are based on a thorough examination of the sources of revenue, macro and micro-economic impact of policy. We are the only party to prepare election platforms that have been thoroughly costed over a three year horizon. We were the only party to submit our budget to the Parliamentary Budget Office to ask for verification that our numbers added up. (They did.)

We have been the most accountable in office of any MPs. I was the first MP to post all my expenses (original receipts) on line. Now Bruce Hyer, Green MP from Thunder Bay-Superior North does as well. We have pushed other parties to greater levels of accountability.

The biggest reason that Canada needs to Green Party is that we are the only party fighting to restore real democracy by reducing the power of political parties themselves. We need to tear down the bloated Prime Minister’s Office. We must reduce the unhealthy top-down control that turns good people, elected as MPs, into little more than ciphers. We are the only party that wants to eliminate the excessive hyper-partisanship of modern political debate and replace it with respectful dialogue to find common ground. We will make it a priority to replace the perverse first past the post voting system with fair proportional representation.

We will elect more Green MPs in the next federal election, forging consensus across party lines and working for the people who elected us. I appreciate that your editorialists would like it if all Canadian political parties kow-towed to “group think. We never will. And for that reason alone, more Canadians are turning to the Greens to give them reason to believe in the possibility of responsible government.

Elizabeth May, O.C., is the leader of the Green Party of Canada and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands. Her eighth book, “Who we are: Reflections on my life and Canada” (Greystone Books) will be released in October 2014.

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Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense comes a mere three years after Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. The former operation was followed by a significant reduction in Hamas rocket fire, but only for a while. There needs to be a non-violent way to stop the violence.

“The Green Party of Canada urges both sides de-escalate the violence immediately, so a peace process can move forward,” said Elizabeth May, Green Party of Canada leader and MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

The Green Party of Canada supports Palestinian statehood. We base our support on U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181 and U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, advocating a two-state solution and defining borders.

One possible avenue is the Quartet Conditions. They were put forward a decade ago by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and Russia, and negotiations based on them, under U.N. aegis, are still ongoing. The Quartet offers support and aid to Palestine once Hamas agrees to non-violence, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and commits to current peace agreements.

“We urge bringing all parties together in negotiation premised on the rights of all to space in the part of our planet from which so much of our religious and ethical tradition comes. Canada now has a recognized, growing number of accredited peace professionals. We recommend their participation be included,” added Ms. May.

“Peace-building will enable more aid to Palestine for health care and education, and will make possible focus on green economic development and attention to water conservation and distribution, for the future welfare of the region and its people,” noted Green Party of Canada International Affairs Critic Eric Walton.

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The attack on the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, and the killing of nine pro-Palestinian activists on May 31 brought into clear focus what all Canadians should know. The Harper government has become the most pro-Israel of any government on earth. The day of the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a guest of the Government of Canada, on a state visit. Of all the governments in the world, Canada did the most to avoid direct criticism of Israel. The visit of the Israeli Prime Minister to Parliament Hill was, apparently, unmarred by the fact that at that moment, three Canadian citizens, including Kevin Neish of Victoria, were in Israeli government custody while their families still had no confirmation of their well-being.

Even the US, usually holding the title of Israel’s best friend, expressed regret and called for an inquiry, albeit an internal Israeli investigation. While shaking hands with the Prime Minister of Israel, our Prime Minister said nothing of the tragedy.

The Green Party made a public statement deploring the use of violence and repeating our call for a comprehensive economic stabilization plan and internationally monitored buffer zone around the Gaza Strip. While there is a need for an investigation of the attack on the pro-Gaza flotilla, certain facts are not in dispute. The Israeli government forces attacked in international waters. That alone violates international law. The fact that nine people were killed creates the spectre of a far worse crime.

The Harper government has also managed to manipulate its support for the State of Israel with attacks on others for antisemitism. The church-based NGO Kairos lost its funding over such a charge. It was at the heart of the interference with rights and democracy.

I have been at the receiving end of this sort of nasty attack, when the Prime Minister, distorting my comments out of recognition, alleged in the House that I had trivialized the Holocaust. My ‘crime’ was quoting George Monbiot who, in the context of the climate crisis, had compared former US President Bush, Australia’s Howard and Stephen Harper to Neville Chamberlain. I got fairly bruised in the spin cycle of the Harper war room.

Meanwhile, the Green Party stands firm calling for a balanced policy favouring a two-state solution in the Middle East—closer to the kind of policy Canada once advocated. We insist on the right of Israel to exist and condemned the Hezbollah rockets into Israel, as we condemned the excessive force in Israel’s bombing of Lebanon.

The Greens oppose antisemitism with the same vigour we oppose racism, sexism and other forms of hatred. Recently, the Supreme Court of British Columbia found in our favour, when the party and I were sued by an aggrieved former candidate who objected to being rejected, and to having his words described in our press release as ‘anti-Semitic comments.’ The comments, describing 9-11 as involving the ‘shoddily built jewish world bank headquarters (sic)’ were not borderline. The hatred unleashed against a people in the Holocaust, fuelled by paranoia about Jewish control of banks and banking, is well known. There is a difference between antisemitism and fair and reasonable criticism of Israeli policy.

So too, is there an effort to conflate criticism of Israel with denying the right of the State of Israel to exist. I have relatives in Israel and I completely understand the sense of insecurity that comes from being surrounded by the Arab world, with, at least some leaders, still claiming your homeland has no right to exist. However, maintaining as an inviolate principle the right of Israel to exist is not the same as giving its government carte blanche to trample on human rights and the peace process. Ten thousand Israeli citizens rallied to condemn the attack on the Gaza flotilla, and it was denounced by NGOs in Israel, such as the human rights group, B’Tselem.

The sense that criticism of Israel is not permitted in Canada has been growing, but what prompted me to write this column is the recent attack on NDP MP Libby Davies. Libby is a valiant defender of the rights of the homeless and the poor. Recently, she was caught on tape in what was an off-the-cuff answer stating that occupation began in 1948. Once her comments were placed on YouTube, the denunciations were swift. Harper called for her resignation, and even within her own party she faced pressure.

She wrote to the Ottawa Citizen to apologize: ‘My reference to the year 1948 as the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was a serious and completely inadvertent error.’ On the other hand, there is a difference between occupation and illegal occupation. In 1492, many would say that 500-years of occupation of the Americas began. That does not translate to denying the right of any nations’ existence. The term ‘occupation’ in the Middle East context is generally confined to additional, non-UN agreement occupation as it began in 1967.

Keeping a clear head about these issues is critical. A climate of fear and oppression within Canada stifles free speech. These dangerous trends need to be named, and challenged.

Elizabeth May is leader of the Green Party of Canada and a candidate in Saanich Gulf Islands.

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