Below is a letter. I have tried not to make it a rant. I want to be reasonable and measured and, let’s face it, gently persuasive. Read on:



Dear 905,
As you are aware, the 2019 federal election is pending, and whatever you decide is, apparently, the road that will be taken. The collective decision about Canada’s future lies in your hands. On election night, the Prairies, Alberta and BC can only quake in their boots awaiting the outcome of whatever the powerful 905 decides, because we are a huge number and because we are apparently monolithic (massive, uniform in character and slow to change) in our decisions – blue, red, blue, red.

We don’t have to be this predictable. There are alternatives. Just sayin’.

The very definition of ‘conservative’ is tiny, careful steps. Mice steps. It may have worked in the 20th century, but dear 905, we are in crisis mode going into 2020. The IPCC tells us we have barely 11 years before our beautiful Earth is irreversibly screwed, and life upon her becomes a threat. We need lion steps. Old thinking will no longer work.

The human race is evolving beyond the rusty, decrepit, limiting “what’s in it for me?” slogan from the 80’s. In fact, this selfishness from my youth has spelled out sheer terror for today’s youth. The students and children who are NOT holding placards of protest in the face of Climate Change are, I suspect, deer in the headlights. These kids are not climate deniers; they are terrified and think they have no power or say.

Have you parented this apathy, dear 905? Is it a chip off the old block? Do you know about depression among this generation? About suicides that often result? We must give this generation a reason to HOPE. A strong Climate Plan like the one demanded by the Green New Deal for Canada, like the one insisted upon by Extinction Rebellion is needed desperately and immediately.

So here is what I am asking:

Don’t be afraid of change. It’s the only way out.

Don’t be stuck in the mud, out of tradition stubbornness.

Don’t be focused on ‘Me, Me, Me’.

Think of the future. Do you have kids? Grandkids?

Think about preserving the beauty and diversity of our natural environment. Without it what is there?

Think about investing, not just your vote, but also your wealth in renewable energies.

Think about energy as revitalizing: solar, wind, water energy sources are full of vitality.

Embrace the reality that the IPCC has spelled out: act now on Climate Change or ensure a world of fear and harm for our current youth at the hands of those who could not look beyond their current definitions of energy, beyond their wallets, beyond their apathy in acting for the greater good, beyond living in their own smallness.

And finally, dear 905, I would ask that when you vote, you avoid making a fear-based decision. We make fear-based decisions out of insecurity. Out of a feeling of scarcity, out of giving too much power to others so they might control your life. Growth based decisions come from a different energy – that of love. You feel it in your body – competence increasing, freedom expanding.

‘Strategic’ voting is purely from fear. It goes something like this: “I would like to vote for X but if I do that then Y might win so I had better vote for Z.” Voting with your heart or from love has a whole different energy: pure, warm, uplifting. When I do things with love and trust, miracles happen; so my most important decisions always come from the heart.

The future of the country is in your hands, dear 905; summon up your best Self. Dig deeply into your courage, your conscience, and your soul, and pray for guidance. It could be the most important decision of your life and it definitely IS the most important one for the lives of our children.

Sincerely,
A sister 905er





(Betty de Groot, my ecoCaledon compatriot and like-minded friend, collaborated with me on this essay. I thank her for her inspiration.)