At the Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Centre Green Party EDA on November 4th I will be putting my name forward to be elected as the CEO.  It has been my pleasure to volunteer with the EDA since January when I filled in for Anouk upon her departure.  It is my hope that I will be selected by the Green Party of Canada members in Ottawa Centre to continue building the party locally.

Since Janually I believe I have had a positive impact in Ottawa Centre.

In March I organized a candle light vigil on Parliament Hill for Earth Hour.  It was well attended with several hundred people coming out.  CBC Newsworld provided special coverage of Earth Hour across Canada and were on the Hill to interview several people, myself included.  Being on national television is nerve wracking!  Other events since then have obviously been group accomplishments - politics is never a solo effort.  But I played a part in organizing and promoting the Nomination Race, Jen's fundraiser with Elizabeth May,  the spring and fall cleanup of Central Park and our entry in the Pride Parade.

If I am selected as the President of the EDA for 2009-2010 then I will be working towards the following goals:

• Organize an even larger Earth Hour vigil for 2010.  Mike Schreiner (future GPO Leader) is already confirmed and I've put a request in early to have Elizabeth May attend as well.  The real planning will start in January when I plan to reach out to all of the local Green party associations and community associations to bring as many people to the Hill as possible - with beeswax candles in tow of course.
• Canvassing for Green supporters in Ottawa Centre.  Admittingly we were not as successful with canvassing this summer as I had hoped - but some work as been done to facilitate canvassing as we go forward.  We have "No Junk Mail" stickers now courtesy of the Barrie Greens.  I provided updates to our online canvassing tool to make it easier to locate our priority canvassing, and to print out the walking sheets.
• Newsletter and Website: It is difficult to measure what impact the twice monthly newsletters have been having on our membership levels and awareness - but I believe they have made a contribution to our level of engagement with the community.  Even if I'm not writing them myself I will be contributing to them behind the scenes.
• Random Stuff: As the main point of contact for the Green Party in Ottawa Centre I will continue to be very accessible to anyone who is trying to get a hold of us.  Since January that has meant being in contact with other riding Presidents to cooridnate regional activities, responding to the media and handling the influx of volunteers and supporters.  I asked one of our volunteers at the recent fall cleanup why she chose to volunteer with the Green Party - and her answer was simply that we were the only group to respond to her offer!  My goal is to be on the ball for another year.

Thanks - I look forward to seeing everyone at the Clocktower Pub on November 4th.