Good afternoon everyone.  Thank you for taking time out of your Saturday to join us. The Green Party Movement is an international movement that is growing as people all over the world realize that the current global trajectory is unsustainable The Green Party wants be the change the world desires and we believe The Green Party is the change the world needs.

I am sure it has not escaped your view that COVID 19 has certainly changed everything about how we live in the last year. The local Green Party of Canada started the year with grand plans and extraordinary dreams only to be forced to change, not the plans and dreams, but how we would accomplish them in a COVID world. I would like to highlight but a few of those plans and dreams that came to fruition.

As many of you know, 2020 was the year the Green Party of Canada choose a new leader. During the Leadership Contest, our riding hosted each leadership contestant at least once including 2 face to face meetings and 14 Zoom meetings. 

We created and published 2 local newsletters, one “end of year” video and learned how to use lots of new computer programs so we could continue to meet and communicate with you.

We established a Petitions and Advocacy Committee under Katrina’s Behr leadership and developed a Membership 101 PowerPoint online resource with Gianne Broughton’s knowledgeable guidance.  Both of these projects have been shared and used across Canada by other federal Electoral District Associations, also known as EDAs and provincial Constituency Associations known as CAs.  

We worked with other area federal and provincial Green groups to establish “The Lakes” regional cooperative with a goal to maximize EDA and CA effectiveness by sharing resources and ideas.  

While fundraising and friendraising was particularly challenging during the year, we did participate in some local volunteer events promoting a positive image for the Greens and spent much of our time behind the scenes ensuring that our database of members and friends is accurate and usable for the next elections.

However, beyond the plans and dreams, I think more than anything, what we all experienced was an immense satisfaction as a volunteer in the Green movement.  We had fun, we worked hard, we learned new things and I know that we took lots of steps forward in our quest to make the planet healthier and our society kinder and fairer under the banner of the Green Party of Canada.   Would like to thank the remarkable and dedicated team of “Green Believers” that I had the pleasure of working with over the past year Justin McKeiver, Peggy Scott, Gianne Broughton, Gabriel Stamou, Katrina Behr, Ashley Bonner, and Guy Hanchet.

And finally, if we are to be a political force, we need to find more people to help us.  Volunteers are crucial to our success.  So I encourage you to volunteer and donate your time and your skills. And are needed and wanted.

And secondly, we need to raise funds to mount a successful election campaign. Today, I am asking you to donate.  A one-time donation is great, however, I would like to encourage you to set up a monthly donation to the Peterborough-Kawartha Green Party of Canada.  This will help us to plan and grow more effectively.  Membership and donation links are found in the Chat area of this Zoom call.  And if you are joining us via Facebook, my email is roberta.herod@greenparty.ca and I would be more than happy to send you the forms or talk to you about the difference you can make in our community.

We are looking for good people, for volunteers, for supporters and for leaders.  Our Candidate Nominating Committee is working hard to develop a roster of committed and enthusiastic people who will help us win the next federal election.  So…is it your Time to Run?