Approved
It's official: I've been approved to run for nomination to be a Green Party candidate in the next federal election. The application form included some basic questions on citizenship, marital status, aliases, job history, and the authorization to have a criminal check performed. This initial approval doesn't make me the candidate, but it does pre-approve me as a candidate should I win the nomination against other Green Party members who are also interested in running for office.
Happy birthday Agnes, this one's for you
One hundred and twenty years ago today Agnes Macphail was born. If you live in Canada it's possible you've seen one of the Canada Post television ads that features Macphail's passion for penal reform. She was the first woman elected as a Member of Parliament to the Canadian House of Commons in 1921, just two years after women were given the right to vote. An activist and an advocate for rural issues, pensions for seniors, workers' rights, and women in the criminal justice system, Macphail helped bring a once quiet voice to federal parliament.
Although the riding boundaries have changed over the years, Agnes Macphail was first elected in what is now my local riding, Bruce-Grey Owen Sound. She switched to provincial politics in 1943. As best I can tell this riding has not had a female Member of Parliament since Agnes Macphail last held the seat in 1940--seventy years ago.
Last week I submitted the paper work required by The Green Party of Canada to run as a candiate in the next federal election. I like how the Green Party defines success. If you haven't read their platform document, Vision Green, you may be surprised to know that there's more to the party than climate change and "green taxes." A lot more. For the open source software geeks: read their commitment to open source software. Interested in farming and food: that's covered in the Agriculture and food section. Are you a home-based entrepreneur? You're covered too. Or maybe you're an artist or a patron of the arts: yup. There's an arts and culture section for you.
To me Vision Green just makes sense. There are a few things that are a bit controversial (I'll let you find those for yourself), but I like the overall feeling I get from the document and from the party. It meshes with the way I live. It puts a great big WOAH on overconsumption and instead looks to support local, sustainable business. The Green Party encourages Canadians to work hard, but with the goal of leading a sustainable, healthy life.
When Elizabeth May spoke in Owen Sound a few years ago she said she wanted to see more women in politics. She didn't say it directly to me, she said it to a room of a few hundred people. But I heard it as if she said it directly to me. I've been around politics for a long time. I was a provincial Legislative Page in 1991 and a Legislative Usher while at university. I took many credits in political science while studying environmental science at the University of Toronto. I helped build the Web site for Shane Jolley's provincial campaign, and Dick Hibma's federal campaign. I get excited about politics and even took Eric Ries to the beehive building to see the New Zealand government in action back in February. I like living in a democracy where my vote is counted and my member of parliament will call me back if I have a question.
If you've seen me talk about HICK Tech or the 100 Mile Client Roster at an open source conference you know that I'm all about defining, and achieving success. I have not been approved to run in the nomination meeting to be the local GPC candidate, but should I be chosen my personal campaign goal will be to increase voter participation in Bruce-Grey Owen Sound by 10% in the next federal election. It's a SMART goal: it is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to my love of democracy and it's timebound. Do I expect to be elected? No. Will I campaign to win? Yes.
Passion, even for science, is Contagious
March 24th. Ada Lovelace Day. Their Web site is down and the blogosphere is filled with posts about incredible women. It was hard for me to pick a woman in tech who inspires me. Not for lack of women, but for risk of forgetting about something that someone had done which truly inspired me.
A few seats left for Kiwi night
The menu is set and it's going to be a delicious evening on Wednesday at the Ginger Press (Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada). There will be lamb (of course) and pavlova (of course...although truth be told it'll be Australian pav with kiwi, not Kiwi pavlova). Over the course of the evening I'll be taking a look at my experiences of being a working tourist in New Zeland. While in New Zealand I visited over half a dozen cities, spoke at three conferences and indulged in more than a few meals of lamb. The scenery was lovely, the people were fantastic and the similarities (and differences) to Canada (and Grey-Bruce in particular) were really interesting.
On Wednesday I will take you through an overview of my time in New Zealand highlighting:
- buying local, buying handmade and product marketing
- food, wine and eating out
- politics: the Greens, the Māori and how they fit with the other parties
- tourism offices, tourist attractions and the ubiquitous kiwi tea towel
Of course there will also be a few vacation shots of mountains, keas and kakas...the only shots of kiwis are of the human variety.
Hosting
I'm looking to find a Canadian alternative to Dreamhost. They've provided very adequate service for most of my needs for several years. But there are also a few really annoying "features" that have been making client relations strained for nearly a year now. I need to find a new host. I'm constantly looking, but never looking very hard. Maybe you've got some recommendations?
The hosting provider that I switch to needs to:
Free goodies for CMS Expo attendees
This year I have the great pleasure of speaking at CMS Expo in Chicago May 3-5. This conference is in its 4th year and is a learning conference for users at all experience levels. It covers topics that are relevant to your entire content team including Administrators, Businesspeople, Creatives and Developers. This is going to be a fantastic conference with tracks for Joomla!, Drupal, WordPress, Plone as well as Business, Foundations and the PowerTrack for developers. You can see the full schedule online and the speaking line up too.
I am giving two new presentations never-before seen at a Drupal conference:
- Basic Design for Drupal aka Design to Theme in Five
- Advanced Design for Drupal aka Advanced Layout Techniques for Drupal
Both of these sessions are based on the Design to Theme training that launched this year.
Ontario Green Party Leader to Speak in Owen Sound March 22
Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario, will be the keynote speaker at the Annual General Meeting of the Bruce-Grey Green Party of Ontario. Mr. Schreiner, will speak on “The Green Economy: Benefits to Rural and Small Town Ontario”. As a leading advocate for independent businesses and sustainable communities, Mr. Schreiner is well qualified to speak on this issue.
Who: Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario
What: Featured speaker at Annual General Meeting of Bruce-Grey Green Party of Ontario
Where: Owen Sound Market Building
When: 7 PM, Monday, March 22, 2010
Mr. Schreiner was elected as Green Party leader last year. He is well known for his leadership in co-founding the award-winning Local Food Plus which worked to bring farmers and consumers together to promote financially, socially and environmentally sustainable local food systems.
The event is free. Refreshments and door prizes will be provided.
Hopefully I'll see you there!
Blenheim
Today I got up at 5:30 AM to head to one of the great wine regions of New Zealand: Marlborough. It was all a bit rushed, but I did have a nice time and tasted some great wines. The view was also delicious:
I've got notes on wines and things, but I'll save that for when I'm feeling a little bit less hungry and tired.
A is for Arthur's Pass and Ashfords
I'm seriously about to give up on blogging my photos. Tonight's blog post has been eaten TWICE because of these two pictures:
It all looks strangely familiar
Have you ever been to a place where everything looks sort of familiar? My train ride down the east coast of the south island of New Zealand was like that today. It was like Wales, British Columbia and San Jose all smooched into one. It's probably pretty obvious which bits are which but just in case: the Pacific ocean is very much like the Pacific ocean. The sheep covered hills are very much like the sheep covered hills. And the sun burnt yellow hills are very much like the sun burnt yellow hills. Oh! also! the vineyards are like the vineyards. Go figure.
The journey took 13 hours from door to door but it was well worth it and a trip I'm looking forward to making again when I go back up to Wellington. I'll probably spend more time in the open air viewing train if the weather's nice. But if it's not, I've got some decent pictures and some pleasant memories that will do me just fine. In the mean time, a few images for you (and there are more on Flickr too):
