AGM CEO’s Report, 2021

As CEO of the local electoral district riding association, Erik Schomann provide a report. Below is a transcript of that report:

Friends, Greens, Simcoe Northers,

It’s been a long ride from the last AGM to here. Way too much has happened since we last gathered at the Wye Marsh facility in early 2019 and I’m not going to get even close to touching on all of it in the time we’ve allotted for ourselves. I’ll talk about how I’ve ended up addressing you all today as the EDA CEO; I’ll address some of the ongoing challenges we face as well as some local wins; and finish with some novel ways you as members might be able to get more involved.

In the wake of the disaster of the 2019 election, I returned to a post on the local executive. Then CEO Alec Adams, upset as we all were by the events surrounding that election, brought him to the conclusion that, among other issues, the party he’s dedicated 15 years of his life to had become ill equipped to address the overall mindset of growth so prevalent in our culture and lies at the very heart of all our ecological challenges, not just globally but in a very real way locally in the ongoing struggle against the expansion of the Teedon Pit that threaten our water as well as illegal soil dumping throughout our riding to feed the voracious developers building condos throughout the GTA. All these are tied directly to an inane imperative, coupled with what seems to be a general lack of knowledge on the principles of exponential growth that somehow sees infinite growth on a finite planet as possible.

Unconvinced that Alec was in the right place to make the biggest difference, he stepped down as CEO. I agreed with Alec about the nature of the problem and saw the increasing bureaucratisation of the party as the single biggest impediment as became evident, not just in my own kafkaesque dealings with the staffers on Albert St. but in sentiments echoed by long standing and stalwart Greens such as Bonnie North and the Members for Growth and Renewal initiative as well as Thomas Teuwen’s Post-Mortem for the 2019 Election. I was heartened to know that I was not alone in my experiences in working with an obstinate party HQ. As a chance to try to address these structural dysfunctions, when I was nominated by the executive to pick up the mantle from Alec, I accepted. The problems, that are extensive, are certainly still with us, unfortunately and it’s an ongoing struggle that I won’t get into here but if any of you wish to dive deeper into this, feel free to email me.

So, not just in spite of the challenges and stressors we’ve been under but also likely because of them, our EDA has flourished through adversity that tested our wills and resolves in ways unique to Simcoe North. We remain, I’m proud to say, among the strongest and most effective EDAs across the country.

Recently we managed to voice our support for the Severn Sound Environmental Association in the local news in an open letter to the Ford government for threatening to gut the SSEA’s funding. This letter drafted primarily by Cate Root with the support and guidance of the entire Outreach team stands as a great tribute to the Green collaborative spirit. We hope it makes a difference. Then, after being invited by Aware Simcoe to join the voices in a series of deputations to encourage Tiny Township to appeal a permit issued by the provincial government to the Teedon Pit to wash gravel with the cleanest water on Earth and we as a community were successful in pushing for that appeal. We’ve also been up to more fun things like logo design to reflect the Green experience in our riding which we’ll be turning over to you the membership to vote on. We’ve also build an attractive and interactive updated website that will go live once that logo is chosen, and all of this first month and a bit of 2021.

Lastly, how to get more involved: Well, we hear perpetual whisperings of a looming election for which we hope to soon hold a contested nomination race to find an appropriate candidate. This election will be special as there is no incumbent, the NDP have bigger problems with their own HQ, and the Liberal brand has been tarnished by the news of their most recent candidate. All of this is, crazy enough, an actual opportunity to turn Simcoe North Green. While the odds are still against us, with people powered change, this is the best chance we’ve seen in living memory of sending a Green candidate to Ottawa. I’d encourage any of you wishing to make a difference to not wait until the election is called to work on our momentum.

Through initiatives led largely by Peter Stubbins and Mathew Lund with the full support of the executive, our capacity to function as an EDA has vastly improved, even as the pandemic has restricted capacity to act, with the creation of a number of subcommittees including:

• Election preparedness

• Outreach committee

• Social Media

• Policy Committee for the policy wonks

While the executive may from time to time get bogged down in procedure and necessary tediousness, these action committees have already been effective in improving our presence in the community and building momentum and I’d encourage each of you, if you can, to investigate these groups and see where you might be able to lend your time and talent because, and I’ll quote the eminent Margaret Mead with a saying that I’m sure you’re all familiar with but can always use a reminder to “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Thank you