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AGM Agenda

2010-02-25T13:42:13-07:00

Agenda for AGM Saturday March 27, 2010
9:30 am – 10:00 am
Doors open – Morning Membership Mingling

10:00 am
Meeting opens with Co-President’s remarks
Approval of agenda
Establish Quorum

10:10 am
Leaders Message

10:20 am
Treasurer‘s Report

10:30 am
Introduce executive candidates

10:35 am – 11:15 am
Voting to take place and coffee break

11:15 am – 11:30 am
Counting of votes and then announcement of results

11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Start into the discussions surrounding the Constitution and By-Law amendments/proposals

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Continue discussion on amendments and proposals

4:00 pm – 4:20 pm
Break

4:20 pm – 6:00 pm
Continue discussion on amendments and proposals

6:00 pm
Meeting adjourned

By-Law Proposals at the AGM

2010-02-25T09:54:16-07:00

Hello all. Thanks to the yeoman efforts of Mary Lou Harley (who deserves a medal of some sort)and the Constitution and By-Law Review Committee, the Final Draft of the Proposed Amendments is ready for viewing and discussion. They can be found on the About GPNS dropdown on the front page of our website, just below the new Constitution and By-Laws.

Since the March 27th AGM will be primarily concerned with discussing and voting on these amendments, it is in the best interest of all those who plan to attend the AGM to peruse and comment on these proposals beforehand. Many of them are housekeeping and compliance/clarity amendments. Discussion time will be limited at the AGM as there are so many proposals to work through, so even a cursory understanding of the implications of these changes going into the AGM will be beneficial. If there are queries or clarifications required, please contact the Committee at bylaw-review@greenparty.ns.ca.

Intent to Run Notifications

2010-02-24T11:27:08-07:00

During the upcoming AGM 4 Executive Positions must be filled by a vote at the AGM by the membership. Those four positions are:
Co-President Female
Co-President Male
Co-Policy Convenor Female
Co-Policy Convenor Male

If any one wishes to declare their intent to run to the GPNS executive thy must do so by
March 12, 2010
And submit to us the following:
A 250-word letter stating reasons for seeking the executive position in the GPNS. This document will be given the widest possible distribution among the membership
A current resume or CV
A current photograph (at least 3” x 5”)

Send all notifications on intent to run to
president.m@greenparty.ns.ca

Or by Canada Post to
Green Party of Nova Scotia
PO Box 36044
5665 Spring Garden Road
Halifax, NS
B3J 3S9

Or if you would like to arrange another method please call
1-877-707-5775

The Yarmouth Ferry Debacle

2010-02-22T10:25:45-07:00

The NDP government of Nova Scotia continues to stonewall the people of Yarmouth on the ferry issue. As the tourist season prepares to ramp up, the ferry workers and business owners in Yarmouth are still uncertain about their future.

John Percy, Leader of the Green Party of Nova Scotia, said, “Friday’s release by the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism of visitor figures for 2009 indicate that almost 2.1 million people visited Nova Scotia last year. Of those, approximately 5%, or just over 100,000 people, entered through Yarmouth. The last Department of Tourism Exit Study indicated that every visitor party of two people spent $950 and stayed for just over four days. This translates into $50 million dollars of economic activity.” Mr. Percy spent the weekend in Yarmouth speaking with local residents.

He went on to say, “From that $50 million dollars we can extract $4 million as our 8% provincial share of the HST and couple that with the income tax revenue from the over 100 ferry workers, or about $1 million dollars, tax revenue from Bay Ferries, and the $3 million dollar penalty that Nova Scotia has to pay Bay Ferries to break the contract, and we can see that it is more cost effective to continue the ferry rather than shut it down.

The loss of revenue will be further aggravated by the increase to the budget of Community and Social Services for the newly unemployed.”

“In the Finance Department’s December Update, it indicated that there was unscheduled interest relief of $6.5 million due to lowering rates on our debt. Some of that money can be directed toward the ferry and keeping the Yarmouth local economy alive.”

Start Your Engines!

2010-02-09T14:02:57-07:00

Start your engines! PC MLA for Yarmouth Richard Hurlburt resigns. Premier Dexter, while in opposition committed his party to filling vacancies in a timely manner if elected, although he may prudently wait a short time in case more dominoes fall. With the outrage spread evenly among the three sitting parties, the Green Party of Nova Scotia, as the only provincial party to remain untainted by this scandal, has an opportunity to increase its vote share and show the citizens of this province that the Green Party does things differently.

"Fixing the MLA expense issue is merely addressing a symptom, not the problem", said John Percy, Leader of the Green Party on Nova Scotia. "We need a wholesale change in thinking about how we conduct government business in Nova Scotia, starting with the electoral system."

Mr. Percy went on to say, "The first past the post system is an antiquated and irrelevant system that worked for a two party system controlled by white male landowners 250 years ago. Our society has changed radically, but our electoral system has remained static."

"The non-voter is the largest and fastest growing demographic in the province. Out of 714,675 registered voters in Nova Scotia, 186,556 voted for the current government, or 26.1%. Approximately 301,000 chose not to vote. So by appealing to 1 in 4 voters, a party can have a majority government without the will of the majority, and can have free rein to rule this province as a personal fiefdom. Currently 26% of the voters gave the government 60% of the seats. This is NOT representative, accountable government. We need to move to some form of proportional representation and enshrine the use of online voting into law to offset an ever growing apathy and sense that taxpayers have no control over a system that is out of touch with reality."

Update on the AGM Saturday March 27th, 2010

2010-02-05T08:15:04-07:00

Hello all,

Here is an update on information about the Annual General Meeting to be held Saturday March 27th, 2010. It will be at the Middle Stewiacke Recreation Centre from 9:30 am to 6 pm. The MSRC is on Highway 289, approximately 10k from the 102 exit 12 (Brookfield). It is a decommissioned school, so there is a kitchen (and coffee machines) eating facilities, and plenty of parking. If someone wishes to organize a pot luck lunch we could combine a social occasion with business.

The agenda is being hammered out this week, but there will be Executive elections and by-law amendments taking precedence on the agenda. The following are the criteria for amendment submissions:

Proposals for amendments to the By-Laws (revised 2009) are being prepared by the By-law Review Committee for presentation to the membership at the 2010 Annual General Meeting, to be held March 27, 2010.

Members are encouraged to submit

Statements of Concern for the Committee's consideration or

formal Submissions of Proposals for Amendments to the Constitution and By-laws.

Members are asked to submit specific Statements of Concern and Submissions of Proposals for Amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws, to be received by the Committee by Feb. 15, 2010.

Statements of Concern must include

o the members name and contact information

o the relevant article number in the Constitution or the By-Law name

o the original wording that is of concern, and

o the exact nature of the concern.

The Committee will review Statements of Concerns and address those that can be incorporated into the proposals at this time.

For Submissions of Proposals for Amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws, the membership is reminded to consider the foundational nature of the constitution, the legal language, the required clarity of intent, and the required consistency involved when preparing a proposal for amendment of the Constitution. The focus is intended to be on amendments to By-laws at this AGM. There are several requirements for submission of proposed amendments by members:

a proposal for amendment to the constitution or a bylaw must be submitted prior to the stated submission deadline
the proposal must be proposed/endorsed by at least two members (equivalent to a minimum of a mover and seconder of a motion)
one of the members proposing/endorsing the proposal must be prepared to speak to the proposal at the Annual General Meeting
the date, name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of each member proposing/endorsing the proposal is to appear at the end of the proposal
the body of the proposal must contain
- the number of the article of the Constitution or the By-Law number, title, and article number
- reason for amendment
- wording of original article (from Constitution and By-Laws (revised 2009)
- exact wording of proposed article
- any other articles that will be directly influences by acceptance of this proposal
- if the addition of a new article is being proposed: then state the reason why this addition is thought necessary; the document to which the proposed addition is to be made; the proposed number of the proposed article; the exact wording of the proposed article; and any other articles that will be directly influences by acceptance of this proposal
- if removal of an article is proposed, then state the reason for this proposed removal; the number of the article of the Constitution, or By-Law number, title, and article number; the exact wording of material for which removal is proposed; and any other articles that will be directly influences by acceptance of this proposal.

Statements of Concern and Submissions of Proposals for Amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws must be sent to bylaw-review@greenparty.ns.ca and received by the stated submission deadline of Feb. 15, 2010.

The proposed amendments by the Committee, and those proposals received from members that meet the requirements will be posted for review by the members at least 30 days before the Annual General Meeting. Hard copies will be mailed only to those members who do not have an e-mail address registered with the Party or who specifically request a hard copy.

We look forward to your participation.

By-law Review Committee 2010

NS Auditor General report shows disturbing trends in education

2010-02-04T09:43:52-07:00

“The report released by the Auditor General of Nova Scotia points to some rather serious discrepancies in the handling of P3 contractual obligations,” said John Percy, Leader of the Green Party of Nova Scotia. “This P3 partnership was touted as being an effective cost-saving measure, but has, instead, cost the taxpayers of this province dearly. Rather than dwelling on generators and desk ornaments, I would like to see the media delve into the non-compliance and contractual payment issues outlined in the report.”

Some background from the report:

· The school public-private partnership contracts examined during this audit represent a significant financial obligation to the province totalling approximately $830 million over their 20 year life.

· …we cannot conclude on whether key calculations supporting contract payments are correct or whether many services paid for are received.

· Our audit identified instances in which child abuse registry and criminal record checks, fire safety inspections, and emergency first aid and CPR training were not completed by the developers as required under the service contracts. Contract terms do not address significant areas such as audit access for the Province; measurable levels for all services; monitoring compliance with contract terms including required documentation; and an adequate payment adjustment system when contract terms are not complied with.

· Two developers subcontracted their responsibilities under their service contracts for certain schools to the regional school boards. These subcontracts effectively transfer the risks for the operation and maintenance of the schools assumed by the developers in the service contracts back to government. Regional school boards are delivering contracted services at a lower cost than that paid to the developers. Over the 20 year life of the contracts the estimated difference in payments between the developers and regional school boards is approximately $52 million. In addition, regional school boards need to do a better job ensuring that all money owed to them by the developers is received. We noted instances in which amounts received by the regional school boards did not comply with contract terms; these will result in significant financial recoveries for the Boards.

“In these troubled economic times when governments are scrambling for every dollar and education budgets are stretched paper thin, we have an unacceptable situation compounded by contractual non-compliance from our private partners. Instead of always going for the low hanging fruit and railing about a model of the Hector on someone’s credenza, let’s go after the real dollars that are owed to the province.”

Province rejects Kings County Council ban on bio-solids

2010-01-29T14:30:25-07:00

The N.S. Green Party’s agriculture critic says the provincial government’s failure to ban bio-solids on farmland exposes Nova Scotians to untold health risks.

“Sewage sludge does not belong on our dwindling farmland,” Anna-Maria Galante said Friday.

Galante, appointed agriculture critic by party leader John Percy last fall, was responding to Friday’s news that the province had rejected a request from Kings County council to ban the spreading of treated Halifax sewage as a substitute for conventional fertilizer.

Galante says the Green Party is calling on the province’s health organizations to question the province’s guidelines for the treatment of the sludge, which is collected from residential, hospital, industrial, commercial sources and street run-off.

“It’s not that we oppose returning waste to the land. It’s that our waste is toxic. We’re not just talking about heavy metals. There are pharmaceutical residues and synthetic hormones that are going to end up in our food.”

She added that in other locales, bio-solids are being used an alternative fuel source.

“In Malmo, Sweden, public transit is being run on bio-fuels generated from organic waste. That makes sense. Nova Scotia Power could be using bio-fuel instead of harvesting our forests for so-called bio-mass.”

Galante is hoping that Kings County will join with other municipal units for a collective consensus ban on bio-solids fertilizer.

“The health concerns are paramount. Bio-solids won’t help the reputation of our struggling agriculture sector in the long run. And climate change and oil scarcity are making unspoiled farmland a precious commodity.”

Province rejects Kings County ban on bio-solids

2010-01-29T14:11:52-07:00

The N.S. Green Party’s agriculture critic says the provincial government’s failure to ban bio-solids on farmland exposes Nova Scotians to untold health risks.

“Sewage sludge does not belong on our dwindling farmland,” Anna-Maria Galante said Friday.

She added that in other locales, bio-solids are being used an alternative fuel source.

Galante is hoping that Kings County will join with other municipal units for a collective consensus ban on bio-solids fertilizer.

U.S. considers seismic testing off Georges Bank

2010-01-29T09:21:30-07:00

The U.S. government is opening the door to seismic testing on the continental shelf off the Atlantic Coast, a step that could lead to offshore drilling on the U.S. side of Georges Bank for the first time in 30 years.

John Percy, Leader of the Green Party of Nova Scotia, today called on the provincial government to extend the moratorium of seismic testing off Georges Bank and widen the ban to include all provincial territorial waters.

A moratorium on testing and drilling on the Canadian side of Georges Bank — a rich fishing ground southwest of the province — expires on Dec. 31, 2012. Provincial and federal governments must decide by the end of July whether there will be a public review on the moratorium.

Seismic testing uses air guns that send explosive shock waves into the seabed, which then reverberate through the marine environment. Although the direction of the greatest sound intensity is downward, a considerable amount of energy is radiated horizontally. Seismic testing can be heard many kilometres from the source. For example, the seismic activity off Nova Scotia is heard off the Bahamas, several thousands of kilometres away.

" This deafening noise causes fish swim bladders to explode; it kills marine larvae and disrupts the traditional migratory paths of some fish species and marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins," said Mr. Percy. "In some places, these disturbances have resulted in reductions in commercial fish catches up to 50 percent, and have caused whales to leave waters where they are habitually found."

According to Dr. Chris Clarke, Director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University, seismic testing is the modern form of exploratory dynamite, and “the air guns represent the most severe acoustic assault to the marine environment that he can imagine short of naval warfare.”