Biography of Colleen McCrory
Meeting Minister Trittin
Meeting Lower Saxony Greens
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Last week Colleen McCrory, Deputy Leader of the Green
Party of British Columbia (BC), attended a session of the
State Parliament of Lower Saxony on May 26th in Hanover,
Germany. One of 16 states in Germany, Lower Saxony is
the second largest in terms of area, after Bavaria. With a
population of almost 8 million, it is 9.6% of the total
population of Germany. McCrory was invited to attend the
34th session of electorial period of the Parliament by Stefan
Wenzel, Green Party Member of Parliament and Parliamentary
Speaker for the Green Party of Lower Saxony.
"It was amazing to discover that 14 Greens are Members of
Parliament and to see the unified force of their representation
in the parliamentary session," said McCrory. She noted "the
Greens are given proportional representation even though the
Green Party represents only 7% of the vote in the State of
Lower Saxony."
Following Parliament, McCrory visited the headquarters of the
Green Party of Lower Saxony in Hanover, where she was given a tour
and an introduction to the history of the German Green Party. It was
established in 1979 largely as a result of the popular movement to
ban nuclear energy. Prominent founding members of the Green Party
currently in the Federal Parliament include Joschka Fischer, the
Foreign Minister and Juergen Trittin, the Environment Minister.
In Hanover McCrory also met Green Party MP Rebecca Harms,
the German Green Party candidate for the European Union in the
upcoming elections on June 13th. Harms was one of the most
outspoken opponents of the transport of nuclear fuels during the
Gorleben demonstrations in the early 1980s.
In the afternoon, McCrory was invited to lunch with Stefan Wenzel
and his fellow Green MP, Georgia Langhans, who is also Secretary
of the State Parliament of Lower Saxony.
They were surprised to learn that BC exports raw logs out of the
Province, that BC has no provincial Endangered Species Act and
that forestry legislation in BC is practically non-existant. With no
Green representation, both Mr. Wenzel and Ms. Langhans could
understand how the present BC government is able to legislate so
many anti-environmental policies, while collaborating with industry
for short term economic gains.
McCrory was impressed by the serious global responsibilty assumed by
the German Greens for cleaning up and protecting the environment. It
was clear to her that the Green MPs are committed to making long term
changes for the future. From June 1 - 4, for example, Minister Trittin
opened the renewables2004 International Conference in Bonn, which was
hosted by Germany. Thousands of delegates from all over the world attended
the meeting to explore alternatives to the nuclear and oil and gas industries.
According to Minister Trittin, the job market created by renewables
is the largest and most vigourous in Germany.
McCrory told her German colleagues that she wished BC was also moving
in this direction, instead of planning more dams and further oil and
gas development.
Links:
Colleen McCrory and Stefan Wenzel in front of the Lower
Saxony Parliament building.
(Foto: Karen Wonders)
Colleen McCrory, Stefan Wenzel and Georgia Langhans.
(Foto: Karen Wonders)
Colleen McCrory shows Stefan Wenzel a poster of ancient BC temperate rainforest
trees.
(Foto: Karen Wonders)
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Regenwald
in Kanada 
