Friday, June 20, 2008

A broad approach, drawing people in to build our party

Published June 20, 2008

Hello everyone,

This article is meant insure some clarity, please take the time to read it. Keep an eye out for my article on Food Security tomorrow.

Building our party organization around the province is a vital task for our party, I don’t think anyone can deny this priority. Mr. Watson may suggest placing a concerted effort on building our organizational capacity isn’t a primary priority for me even though I’ve stated it is.

Having watched politics closely all my life I know full well how important an active and robust organization is needed to deliver the vote. I’m disappointed that Mr. Watson is trying to suggest that don’t understand this. I repeat today that building our organizational capacity is a vital priority of mine, but how can we build a party without drawing people into our organization and have them work for us? Especially the people that may not initially relate to Green values.

What I have been speaking about, the frontline approach, is a fully integrated leadership approach that starts at the grassroots and follows through completely to the top. Some of the ideas I have been talking about are possible ways to draw people into our party, ideas that show action, ideas that are more than just talk, it’s policy and philosophy in action. A leadership approach that shows a politician is willing to be directly involved in people’s lives and not just another fat cat talking in a suit. Many people have long grown tired of the politician or political entity who only shows up for support, money, or a vote. The frontline political approach commands respect as it shows one truly cares about how people live through involvement, not just pushing political ideology.

A wise man by the name of George Reid, leader of the Alberta Greens, once told me that his most important task is to get people working for him and the Green Party of Alberta. Having a political leader that is willing to literally roll up ones sleeves and actually participate in real life events to realize the visions of their party is a much more powerful force to draw people in than relying solely on traditional political activities.

By taking a few hours a week to volunteer ones time towards the application of Green values in real life is leading by example, showing people that this leader is willing to work hard just like all the rest of us, willing to work like the average Joan and Joe when needed, and by doing so we will be leading by example, not just talk. People are tired of just talk, regardless if the cause is a noble one like social justice and sustainability.

My leadership approach will be one filled with a broad array of activities complete with all of the obvious traditional activates, but people want more than that. People want a leader that is in touch with people on a broad array of issues, a leader that can as way through action, and has the understanding to literally take the lead and facilitate change. Ryan is suggesting that if we build it they will come, a representation of Green values. My approach is one of deeper meaning, more relatable to mainstream people, my approach is one of true leadership, I want the Greens to become known as the ‘Go To’ on many issues, not just environmental, the total package for sustainable living so to speak.

I’m glad Mr. Watson has his sights set on getting elected in the next election, so do I, my sights are set on positioning the Greens to eventually become the Government! A political movement that has never been seen before, one of frontline leadership, it is vital we the Greens demonstrate our efforts have an effect on people’s lives now through change and positive reinforcement. Preaching on Green values alone isn’t enough to push the Greens to the top, especially in the province of Nova Scotia, our province is in desperate need of true leadership and vision, not another limited representative entity. I feel we need to step out and take the lead, impacting lives and by doing so people will flock to our party giving us the many volunteers we need to build our party. We will do it the frontline way and work it all the way to the back.


Sincerely,

Barton J Cutten

Rural lifestyles and food security

Published June 17, 2008

Hello everyone,

Over the next three days I will be sending some more emails about how I feel the Greens can help support and build Nova Scotia food security and how it’s important for the Greens to have a leader who will travel to all corners of our province.

Food security has been an issue I’ve been following and tracking closely over the past few years. The Nova Scotia Food Security Network estimates that if our provincial border were shut off to food imports it would only be three days until our store shelves would start to go bare.

Food security goes hand in hand with sustaining rural lifestyles, something else I’ve been contributing to. Below is a link regarding a Senate hearing held in Debert, NS in February of 2007 about the state or rural Canada. I participated and spoke, my transcript is about two-thirds down the page, if you have time please take the time to read. http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/agri-e/17eve-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=39&Ses=1&comm_id=2 . Relating to rural issues is going to be a vital proponent for The Greens to be successful through out the whole province and be essential to fostering greater food security in our province.

It is good to learn that Mr. Watson is also in favor of deregulating the power industry here in Nova Scotia, something I’ve been helping to push as well over the past few years. We as citizens should have the right to purchase and sell power to whomever we want.

Something Mr. Watson may not have known is there are a series of recommendations that were crafted back in 2002 and 2003 by the Electricity Marketplace Governance Committee, mainly rec. 51 and rec. 52. You can read a summary about these two recommendations near the bottom of page two of a document prepared by Barrington Wind Energy. http://www.nsarda.ca/images/Barrington%20Wind%20Energy%20-%20Erik%20Twohig.pdf Having our Electricity market deregulated is much closer to becoming true than a lot of people realize, the key is to have these recommendations formed into a bill and passed in the legislature. We have at least one GPNS member who is well involved in the wind energy sector and was glad to learn some people in the party are aware about these two recommendations.

For those who are submitting a proxy vote please take your time to fill out and send your mail in ballots, there are still a few days left to hear what us leadership candidates have to say.

Kind Regards

Barton J Cutten

Frontline leadership

Published June 10, 2008

Good day everyone,

Attached (see right) is a picture taken last week near Masstown, Nova Scotia, on a farm that produces eggs and pumpkins. This farm is using small wind turbines to generate close to 60% of their electrical needs. In the picture are members of Truro’s local Kairos organization, myself, and farm owner Glenn Jennings.

Kairos is a Canadian interdenominational faith group devoted to ecumenical justice initiatives and the local chapter has been inviting me out to their events the past few months. In April I met Rhoda, a Kairos member, at a Department of Environment roundtable consultation event about future water policy. Rhoda stands to my right in the picture. Rhoda insisted I become involved in Kairos after hearing me provide input at the roundtable event and have been asked to come back ever since.

The reason why I share this with you is because it highlights frontline leadership and the tremendous value of staying connected with people and taking the time to learn for oneself and educate others. It’s great to talk about why we should follow Green values, but what is the good of talking about it if there is no direction and guidance for people to follow. How do we apply Green values?

Frontline leadership is beyond politics, though there is a time for the latter, I feel strongly that citizens of this province want direction and leadership beyond any political entity as we are heading into a period of consequences and uncertainty. The oils days of the cheap and easy are over and the necessities of life are going to be more expensive to acquire. I feel the Greens can be great educators and providers of knowledge to help citizens find ways to fill their bellies and heat their homes with true frontline leadership and education. If elected leader I would like to devote some time doing just this, right in peoples homes, showing them how to save energy, how to access fresh healthy affordable food, and many other Green values and approaches to life.

As Mr. Watson has pointed out about the importance of building our party internally, I agree as well. I have learned quite clearly over the past few years the importance of having a robust political organization. My vision is to draw people into our party by proving we can be effective now in people's everyday lives as well. In short make our party more than just politics or the political process, make it about the common good and effective change. Green philosophies can be applied more readily in peoples everyday lives than any government can force on us.

As we head into the oil crunch people are going to be looking for a new way of living, we can show them a Green way. Our province needs leadership, vision, and direction, we cannot wait for people to come to us, we need to reach out and affect people’s lives as well.

There are times for meetings, door knocking, canvassing, speeches, fundraising, and everything traditional about building political parties, but there comes a time when reaching out to affect peoples lives is much more powerful. I feel frontline leadership is the most powerful way to draw in support, it connects people, it shows people that one truly cares.

For facilitation, consultation, and vision, please vote for me as leader, Barton J Cutten.

Sincerely yours.

Further discussion about Greens facilitating a strong voice against uranium mining

Published June 10, 2008

Hello GPNS members and interested readers,

Good to see Mr. Watson contributing to the debate again. Before reading further please know that we are talking about an idea and it is just an idea at this point, one of many ideas I have. Such an idea of organizing the voice against uranium mining in our province would need the consent of our party members. There is a great number of other issues out there that we can address as well, but it would be good to have some direction.

As quoted on my blog page “A great leader not only performs exceptionally but sees the talent or strengths in others and assists them to success.” In the context of organizing a “We say no to uranium campaign” most of the infrastructure is already in place, aside from potentially organizing a consolidating event like a rally. Nova Scotia is blessed with a tremendous array of small community groups and organizations, all of which want to spend energy towards good causes.

Our role would be to reach out and engage these community groups and have them in turn reach out to citizens. What we need to do is organize the dozens of advocacy groups into one voice and have themselves work towards the cause with us the Greens facilitating and offering support. The initial focus is on the issue at large, not the Greens, as the issue of uranium mining is beyond partisan politics.

One may ask what would be the advantage to the Greens to entertain such an idea. From an organizational perspective we would be engaging citizens who have experience and the motivation to organize themselves and we can attract some of those people to help build our party. The ripple effect would cause quite a buzz for the Greens, thus attracting more people to the party, imagine the media coverage the whole scenario would generate as well. It would be a snowball effect.

The most important reason for us to organize a clear voice against the possibility of mining uranium is that it is bad for the environment, a principle that transcends any politicking. And we as a entity that values our environment needs to be involved, even if that means taking the lead.

Opposition to uranium mining transcends many demographic lines and is a potent avenue of engagement for us to capture the attention of the entire province. With that captivated audience we can expand on what we have to say and offer as a party giving us an opportunity to further build support and organizational capacity.

Mr. Watson suggested that we need to follow the lead of the community organizations and NGOs that would blaze the trail against uranium mining. The word follow stuck out the most in that sentence. To follow what? Our province does not need more followers right now, our province needs leadership and vision, something that has lacked severely over the past decades and our potential has never been realized. The political establishment has been following for far too long, too timid to take a stand and push for something better, and our province as suffered because of it.

My ear has been to the ground and I know for certain such a grassroots facilitative organization against uranium mining can springboard our Green Party into the consciousness of the provinces citizens. With the fruits of such an engagement we can then start pushing for progressive, sustainable change, showcasing practical ideas all the while building our party and support.

As stated this is just an idea. There will be more I will share.

Kind regards,

Barton J Cutten
GPSN leadership candidate

Creating engagement, organizing against uranium mining

Published June 6, 2008

Hello GPNS members and interested readers,

The Chronicle Herald has an online comment section about the latest polling results published for Nova Scotia. To create some more awareness about our party and to advertise my leadership ambitions I posted a comment, and there were three responses. I just posted a reply and the process of citizen engagement is well in place. My first post is about fifty down from the top with my full name as the username. If elected leader there will be many different types of citizen engagement like this one to capture the attention of Nova Scotia citizens and then build off of that engagement.

As you will read Richard asked me about my position on uranium mining in Nova Scotia. I told him that I'm clearly against the idea of uranium mining in Nova Scotia.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1060146.html

Richard's question fits nicely into an idea I've been thinking of for a couple of weeks now.

If elected leader I would like to have the Greens organize a unified voice for all the people and small organizations across the province who are opposed to lifting the moratorium against uranium mining in Nova Scotia. This could be our summer focus to engage citizens. I have noticed that there are a lot of individuals and groups who are opposed to lifting the uranium ban but their voices are scattered. It would be pivotal for the GPNS for gather this support together and perhaps have it cumulate towards a unified rally late in the summer. With our unified support we could organize a free concert and have guest speakers take the stage, perhaps Elizabeth May might come and speak. We could make it a grand event while sending a clear message to Government. This is an example of how we the Greens could be the great facilitators and show how we can make things happen.

If anyone has any ideas about how we can build on this idea I would like to hear them.

Kind Regards,

Barton J Cutten
GPNS leadership candidate

Working hard for you

Published June 3, 2008

Good day GPNS members and other interested readers,

First I would like to thank fellow Green Party of Nova Scotia leadership candidate Ryan Watson for following my suggestion that we as Nova Scotians should discuss the concept of Sustainable Enterprise http://trurodaily.com/index.cfm?sid=138334&sc=68 , you can read Ryan’s input at his website http://www.ryanwatson.ca/category/economy/ . I encourage others to discuss the concept of Nova Scotia creating a new economic sector called Sustainable Enterprise and what that may entail. Please voice your input. Perhaps this could be a key discussion point at the upcoming GPNS annual general meeting.

Below are a few words about how I want to work for you.

I want to work hard for you, and I want to work hard for our Green Party of Nova Scotia.
I feel that the leader of the GPNS needs to be working fulltime for the needs, requests, and concerns of our members. How can I work for you?

As leader of the GPNS I want to foster a culture of constructive involvement and encourage people to have a say. I want to consult the views of our party members and I want to consult the views of all Nova Scotians. To be candid, if elected leader, I will welcome your input and will depend on it. I take great pride in being able to listen well and it’s a skill of mine under constant development. How can I work for you? I’m listening.

We need to foster a culture of unparalleled cooperation and drive within our party, then spread that goodness all across the province of Nova Scotia. We need to live up to our principal for respecting diversity and allow multiple ideas to flourish. We, The Greens, need to become the great facilitators of constructive, inclusive change in our province of Nova Scotia. I am committed to making this vision a reality. I’m certain our party will flourish with this approach and Nova Scotia will benefit greatly.

It is undoubted that we have a vision for a healthy environment, but there are many social ills and injustices prevalent in our province of Nova Scotia that we The Greens need to help address as well. Our social conscience needs to be up front and center at all times, but especially when addressing our societies social ills as there are increasing amounts of people who need help. I believe we need to be the great facilitators of social justice as well. I believe we are a party about social equality just as much as we are conscious about our environment and we need to assert both these values to the fullest.

I ask for your support and your vote at our upcoming AGM.

How can I work for you?

Kind Regards,

Barton J Cutten

Creating a magnificent GPNS web page

Published May 29, 2008

Good day Green Party of Nova Scotia members and interested readers,

It is with great pride for me to relay my enthusiasm and dedication for the Green Party of Nova Scotia. Politics and sustainable provincial planning has been my career choice for well over five years now and I’ve been developing myself for such a path in life.

Building up to this point I’ve made a commitment to myself to travel the front lines of life, seeing how people live, seeing how people work, seeing how business works, spending time reaching out and learning by engaging people. I’ve been asking questions trying to figure out how it all works together, and working out approaches so can we change our society towards a more sustainable way of living. Traveling on the front lines of life is something I will never stop doing as I feel it is the best way to learn and fully understand what is going on.

Over the next few weeks you will be receiving regular correspondence from me explaining what I can offer to our great little Green Party of Nova Scotia and how we together can make it grow into to the most productive political entity this province has seen in a long time.

I have a vision where our party will be true leaders in the province of Nova Scotia, where we are innovative and current, taking the good of the past and melding it with the technology of the future. Please take the time to read it.

Here is a summary of what I will be discussing in this email.

-Talking about the Importance of having many thousands of email contacts on the GPNS mailing list.

-Have a GPNS website that is the most innovative and user friendly in all of Canada.

-Creating more effective messages by posting videos on our site.

-Creating an area for Politics 101 so people unfamiliar with the political process can have a place to learn.



I would like the GPNS to have the best, most innovative political website in all of Canada. Transmitting web based information is by far the most effective and efficient means of getting a message out and my vision is to have our GPNS the undisputed rulers of effective online and email based messaging.

The most effective means of getting out a message of any type is by email list serves. Based on feedback I’ve gathered over the past couple of years, it’s almost unanimous that non-profit organizations, community groups, and even advertisers site email list serves and the most effective way to distribute a message. People who have advertised events in many different mediums say that the highest turn out was from people learning of events via their emails. We need to make a concerted effort to increase our email contact list by many times larger than it is now, having 50,000+ contacts on our emailing list would give us a tremendous advantage over the conventional political establishment when we want to express our views. And in every mailing we encourage the recipient to forward the message to other people on their contact list.

I would like the GPNS have an interactive, highly visual, web page design that is easy to navigate and full of streaming video. Reading text on a page, though informative, is quite impersonal. Having a lot of what we want to say in an audio video format we can achieve a higher degree of personal engagement and connection for interested viewers.

It’s clear that nothing beats face to face engagement, but video outreach has much more impact than relying on text alone, especially online. With many online websites offering free video uploads it would not cost our party much money, all we would need to do is create a link on our web page to the video in question.

I envision our web page to have three primary areas. The first being an area where citizens can access our policies or current position on any given issue that may arise, this would have a blend of text and video.

The second area would be for promoting party values and mechanisms to attract more people to join or support our party.

The third area, and perhaps the most important, is a place for people to learn about the democratic process at large, a politics 101 learning area so to speak. In this section we can educate curious people about how political party structure works, how policy in a party is formed, how the Provincial Legislature works, what ridings are, how to register to vote, where to vote, etc. We need this section become known as the ‘place to go’ to start learning about the political process. The best part about this concept is people who have had little to no exposure to the political process will have their first experience with the Greens. As a part of our outreach strategy we can refer people to our web site to learn about the political process.

This vision of an interactive web page would include various personalities with in the party all participating in the process of pushing the party and educating people. We the Greens need to become masters of reaching out to people and by doing so we will draw more support for our party.

This is one of my visions for the party. If you have any ideas on how we could build upon this idea or have any suggestions to improve it please send me an email. What I have illustrated here is by no means set in stone and I encourage others to become involved in building this idea and transforming it into a reality.

I have many ideas for the party and please keep an eye out for further emails.

If you have any questions or comments about this article or anything else please send me an email or call me at 902-895-6229.

Please check out my blog at http://www.cuttengreen.blogspot.com and check out some more about me. There is an idea near the bottom of the page to help persons who can’t afford to heat their homes and need support become self-sufficient again, please take the time to read it. I would like it developed into a GPNS policy.

If you are registered on Facebook and would like to join my official support page please add yourself. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barton-J-Cutten/23565992558

Kind Regards,
Barton J Cutten