Leap Supporters Speak Out

Mainstream discussion of the Leap Manifesto is finally improving, after weeks of tired jabs about latte-swilling urbanites that risked drowning out something essential: the voices of the large, incredibly diverse group of people who actually wrote the document, or who supported the Leap from the beginning. These voices have been forcefully intervening in the debate, publishing a stream of fantastic pieces in a range of outlets, and it’s paying off big time. Here’s a roundup of their recent op-eds in order of publication, laying out the vision of the Leap, and how its principles speak to this political moment in Alberta and across Canada.

• Avi Lewis, Tony Alexis, and Joel French in the Edmonton Journal: “Electoral success for the NDP lies in stimulating massive investment in a new economy, prioritizing communities and demonstrating that Alberta can be an clean energy superpower for the 21st century.”

• Mike Hudema at the Huffington Post: “New pipelines aren’t good for the environment, they aren’t good for the climate, and I’m sorry, but they aren’t good for working people or good governance, either.”

• Joanna Kerr at the Greenpeace Canada blog: “Far from being an elite and far-fetched radical proposal, the Leap Manifesto, with its roots in the country’s diverse civil society and the latest scientific research, reveals the zeitgeist of how Canadians want to live and do business with one another.”

• Andrea Harden Donahue and Melina Laboucan-Massimo at Ricochet: “Workers and their families, even whole communities, are hurting in Alberta. No one wants this. We don’t want this. The problem is that more of the same is not the best medicine.”

• Andrea Harden-Donahue at the Council of Canadians blog: “It is through telling real stories, through tangible examples, which I think will be led by Indigenous communities, grassroots activists and workers, that we’ll find the solutions we need.”

• John Dillon at Rabble.ca: “…it reflects input from 60 Indigenous, social justice, environmental, labour and ecumenical organizations from across Canada who gathered last May to discuss the climate crisis. I know that every person at that meeting had a role in shaping the outcome because I was there.What struck me about that gathering was the spirit of collaboration and a collective understanding of the need to listen to Indigenous perspectives. Indeed the meeting opened with an Indigenous prayer ceremony led by Ellen Gabriel from the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. I remember asking myself ‘When was the last time I attended a secular meeting of social activists that began with a prayer?’ I couldn’t recall a single example.”

• Crystal Lameman in the Globe and Mail: “From where I stand, the Leap Manifesto isn’t an attack on Albertans or its workers. It’s a gift, offering us a pathway to a more humane, healthy and livable province, one that honours the treaty rights of indigenous peoples and meets the needs of all its inhabitants.”

Did we miss any?  Let us know.