Last month, the Canadian Press reported "Saskatchewan farmer and two-time Tory leadership hopeful David Orchard is thinking about leaping into the Liberal race." And it seems at least one person is excited about that prospect. In an email sent to friends and supporters, Salt Spring Island environmental and peace activist Jan Slakov notes that she recently joined the Liberals to back Mr. Orchard's bid and encourages them to do the same. Ms. Slakov explains her decision to takeout a party membership followed an April meeting with the former Conservative who was "consulting supporters across the country, letting us know that if he is to carry on his work, he needs our support, and also getting feedback on whether or not he ought to run for the (Liberal) leadership." She also reminds her friends "to let David Orchard know if you do join the Liberal Party in order to cupport (sic) his efforts" - providing the necessary contact information. The following is a complete copy of that email.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jan Slakov
Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 11:31 PM
Subject: Join the Liberal Party?

Dear friends,

Most of you share with me a real concern about political decisions and how they affect our society and the earth. And I bet many of you are, like me, rather wary of party politics.

So, I hope you'll find my explanation, below, of why I decided to join the Liberal Party of Canada of interest.

This decision comes as a result of having had the opportunity to meet with David Orchard in April. He was consulting supporters across the country, letting us know that if he is to carry on his work, he needs our support, and also getting feedback on whether or not he ought to run for the leadership of the Liberal party.

I am an Orchard supporter; I think we are very lucky to have a person of his caliber willing to work for and with us. He is an organic farmer, farming the family farm in Saskatchewan that once belonged to his great-grandparents. He is the co-founder of Citizens Concerned about Free Trade (CCAFT). He is the author of _The Fight for Canada: Four centuries of resistance to American expansionism_/_Hors des griffes de l'aigle_ and ran for leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party. Besides these "facts", it was very important for me to see in David a quality I value highly: respect. We see this respect in his valuing of various parts of the Canadian mosaic (particularly First Nations and francophone) but the respect extends to everyone, including political adversaries.

Normally, I am very wary of nationalism. In these times, however, I think independent national governments pose one of our best defences against corporate globalization; it is probably even more important for the rest of the world that Canada retain as much independence as possible than it is for most countries, because if our resources continue to feed the US imperialism machine, the world is in great trouble.

About nationalism, David Orchard wrote: "Canada's patriotism for the most part has been a defensive reaction to the threat of absorption by the United States, not an attempt to raise the flag over other nations.... And from India it was Gandhi who said: 'It is impossible for one to be an internationalist without being a nationalist. Internationalism is possible only when nationalism becomes a fact.'"

... I was looking for a short quote to complement what I just wrote above. In looking, I found something a bit longer, but worth copying out:

From the Preface to David's book:

"It has taken eight years to complete this book. It had its beginnings long before that, when I was a boy growing up on a prairie farm. Like most farm children, I began operating machinery at an early age. I wondered why the identification plates on the machinery mostly bore the names of faraway places like Wisconsin, USA. Couldn't Canadians build tractors, engines and combines?

My brothers and I attended a one-room school. In winter we drove a horse and sleigh the five-mile round trip, and in the summer a horse and cart, made by my father. ...

My mother was a nurse turned farmwife. In the moments stolen from the never-ending work of raising four boys and keeping a large farmhouse, she would tell us how her family lost their farm in the dirty thirties in southern Saskatchewan....

My father spent endless hours in political and community work on top of running the farm. Election nights I recall him, in a rare pause from work, sitting next to the radio, an intense expression on his face,... pulling for Tommy Douglas....

One day when I was a teenager, U.S. Air Force jets came suddenly screaming out of the Saskatchewan sky, right over our barn.... Later I learned they were conducting exercises and were on their way to bomb farmers in a place called Viet Nam - farmers struggling to raise crops and livestock just as we were....

In 1970, I went, with a few dollars in my pocket, to explore the world....It amazed me to see the American control of other countries, their military bases, oil companies and supermarkets.... When I returned to Canada I realized that American control of our country exceeded anything I'd seen in any other country of the world, and that the treament of Native people here was as bad as the racism I'd seen in the Australian outback."

Jan again: The rest of the preface is equally interesting, but this gives enough, for me at least, to appreciate the beauty that must have nurtured David's love for Canada, and the whole world. I want to leave room for some of the quotes at the beginning of his book:

"Economic union is political union. The nation which is eager to die sells to a single country." José Marti

"It might be that the lion and the lamb would lie down together but the lamb would be inside the lion." John A. Macdonald

"History is not dead, it is not even past." William Faulkner

"Those who put shackles on the propagation of the French language from one end of Canada to the other are, some without knowing it, others perhaps knowing it... the most efficient instruments which the Americans could emply to absorb the Canadian confederation gradually." Henri Bourassa

******************************************

Moving stuff, all that, but why join the LIberal party? As most of you no doubt know, Orchard ran twice for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party. He never won, but he and his supporters came close. In so doing, they showed us a side of the new Conservative Party that the media has generally failed to accurately portray. (I copy below an article by Orchard that provides some of the details.)

It is unlikely that David Orchard could win leadership of the Liberal Party in 2006; apparently former leader John Turner urges him to run this time, but Chrétien urges him to wait till later. (It turns out another well-known Liberal was supportive too; indeed Trudeau apparently held Orchard's work in very high esteem.)

Even if it is unlikely that enough Orchard supporters will join the Liberal Party before July 1, in time to elect him as leader later on this year, it still makes sense to join. Those of us who join would be able to help determine who does eventually get elected, a pro-military engagement type such as Michael Ignatieff, or hopefully someone who understands why we need to keep out of the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" and why our current involvement in Afghanistan is so mis-guided.

Hopefully, eventually we will see the Liberal Party led by Orchard. If we ever reach that point, I would expect the quality of political discourse in this country to rise immensely. We could focus on real issues, instead of the endless stream of accusations and half-truths that we are drowning in now. Even then, I'm not sure Canada and the "resources" (=nature, not really "resources for human consumption") in this country could be saved. But at least we'd see much more clearly what's at stake.

Now, some people may worry about "splitting the progressive vote". When I thought about this, I realized that some people, David Orchard included, are "bigger" than any party whereas others switch parties because, ultimately, they are motivated by some of the least desirable qualities in human beings.

The party system tends to push people to compete with each other, but we need to be bigger than that. We need to work wherever we feel we can best work for the changes we want. For me, now, this means joining the Liberal Party as a David Orchard supporter. That would not prevent me from voting for candidates from other parties, depending on what I felt would be the most useful way to vote. ... When I filled out the form for Liberal Party of Canada membership, it includes agreeing to be known as a Liberal supporter.

I added a note to explain that my signing does not mean that I support everything the Liberal Party does or has done!

Indeed, this would not prevent me from joining other parties in order to support other wonderful people. (I'm thinking of Elizabeth May! Watch out for her big news on Tuesday, eh?)

Now, for those of you who would like details on joining the federal Liberal party, here are some directions from a friend here on Salt Spring Island:

The website is www.liberal.ca. This can be confusing at first. It's singular "liberal," not plural; there is no "party," and it's "ca," not "com". Apart from all that, it's plain sailing! You are met by an entry screen which asks you to state your name, address and e-mail for "one time use only." Then you can register to join. I did this, and am expecting a membership application form to arrive in the mail soon.

Friends in other parts of BC can call the BC Liberal office at 1-888-411-6511; those in other provinces should be able to locate their provincial contacts on the website.

Please note that new members must join the party before July 1, 2006 to be eligible to vote at their riding ass'n. meetings; the key meeting this year will be held in Sept. to elect delegates to the national convention in Montreal, November 29-December 3, where delegates will cast their votes for the new party leader. [And it can take several weeks to process memberships, so join asap!!]

Remember to let David Orchard know if you do join the Liberal Party in order to cupport his efforts. Contact: , Bus. (306) 664-8443, Res: (306) 652-7095 Box 1983, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3S5

all the best, Jan