Who am I and why would I want to run in an election?

How to describe myself when sometimes I feel that I am an entirely different person every day? Sometimes two or three different people in one day - a concerned citizen, a caring mom, an angry driver. 

I'm a relatively healthy woman in my 70's. I am a widow; my marriage of 47 years ended abruptly and unexpectedly four years ago. I still practice medicine as a doctor - mostly as a locum in Nunavut serving Inuit communities. I have three grown daughters who live in Winnipeg and Calgary and while I'm glad they are on the prairies, it would be nice to have them closer. Fortunately there are younger friends in my life as well.

I am blessed to live in the Touchwood Hills, probably the only hills and woodlands between Regina and Prince Albert. My passive solar house (built in the mid-1980's) uses a small wood heater for back-up warmth. I live on a property managed by the New Roots Community Land Trust whose goals include pesticide and herbicide-free gardening and farming.

My federal riding is Regina-Qu'Appelle; the incumbent is Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative party. His platform is the antithesis of a progressive environmentally responsive and collaborative government. His past behaviour and pronouncements suggest repressive responses to crime, health care, Indigenous peoples and immigrants. I could not watch him win without putting up a fight.

The rising climate crisis is less apparent on the prairies than it is on any of Canada's three coasts - the rising warming seas and resultant extreme weather patterns affect us less, protected as we are by the land mass around us. We have noticed the increasing risks of fires - and increasing numbers of tornadoes (the only tornado I had ever heard of as a child was the one in Kansas that propelled Dorothy into the Wizard of Oz). Our weather is less predictable - but any individual can remember unpredictable events in the past.

But environment is not the only attraction that the Green Party has to offer. The Green Party has two documents, Vision Green https://www.greenparty.ca/en/vision-green and Mission: Possible https://www.greenparty.ca/en/mission-possible that tackle employment including green jobs, transportation, healthcare, education, and economic transformation. The Green Party is neither right nor left - it's justice, Indigenous Rights, good government, and inclusive government.

My own interests include but are not limited to:

1. Environmental reparations for extractive industries - and developing protocols into the future that no longer ignores what happens when the industry folds; 
2. A national fresh water audit and plans for protections - includes placing a value on wetlands so that the burden of maintenance doesn't rest with reserves, farmers or landowners;
3. A guaranteed liveable income for poverty reduction and possible elimination;
4. An improved health care system with more depth to respond to mental illness with sufficient support systems;
5. Fulfillment of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (which are not unlike those of the Royal Commission of 1996);
6. A social and educational system that places the rights of children first;
7. A justice system with increased interest in remediation and restorative justice for both victim and offender;
8. Since farmers are mentioned as some of the biggest offenders in carbon production by the UNIPCC, I would like to work with farmers and farming communities on approaches to climate crisis while still retaining production. What would it look like?

I am tired of seeing governments act as though they understand the wealth of scientific research on social, spiritual and environmental issues instead of acting as though they were run by polling agencies, based on popularity contests. It is reprehensible that our government can be made up of elected individuals with blinders to all but their pocketbooks and those of the company they keep.

We know what needs to be done - I believe in the potential of human beings to work together. Let's start doing it!

Intertemporal Choice - Eliminating Poverty

 Intertemporal Choice

The act of choosing to accept $20 dollars today

instead of $100 dollars a week from now.

Difficult to do, isn't it? Depends a lot upon who is offering the deal, how much trust is involved and where you think that you will be in one week. Even then studies have shown that an overwhelming number of us would still choose $20, accepting the old truism that "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush". This thinking with respect to the world we live in is what got us to an economic system of short-term gains and unfettered resource extraction. 

Whether or not you agree with the connection, it was my thought when I examined Vision Green Principle 4.12. "Eliminating Poverty". (No particular reason that I chose that as the first one into which to delve - just where the book opened.)

Ever since Bill brought a booklet into our home about a guaranteed minimum wage, I believed in it. I was hooked on the "child allowance" cheques of the 1950's when they meant something; mom gave "my" allowance to me as my "clothing allowance". I was delighted to have the independence to manage my own purchases. (Outerwear and underwear were exempt - Mom looked after the costs there.) A guaranteed minimum wage just seemed to be an extension of the child allowance.            

Many leaders talk about reducing or eliminating poverty; several "experiments" have been held in various countries and various parts of Canada with guaranteed minimum wages - and the findings have been positive. When guaranteed a minimum liveable income, people recycle the money in the community, local businesses benefit, petty crime goes down, domestic violence goes down, child hunger goes down and people become healthier. 

We know what to do, someone has to have the guts to do it.

How would it work?

Everyone would all get the bi-monthly or monthly cheque. Many of us will be fortunate enough to never need it. Accessing the program would require only citizenship. A large part of the "poverty-industry" especially government programs would disappear - various programs of welfare, disability pensions, seniors benefits, and unemployment insurance would no longer be needed. Social workers, doctors, and health care workers would be freed of the endless paperwork to provide the care that is needed for mental health, addictions and healthy family relations.

There would be built-in incentives to be gainfully employed as well - when there are jobs to be had. Of course, there would be a few who would figure out how to abuse it somehow - but there are those that do so with every existing program!

The National Council of Welfare has estimated that 15% of Canadians live in poverty and we know many who manage to escape poverty by two or even three jobs.  From where I live, many escape hunger by subsistence farming and gardening. From my experience as a doctor in rural, remote or inner city, I believe that a Guaranteed Liveable Income would enormously change health care needs - anxiety and mental health issues that underlie so much of the demand upon our time.

The actual steps listed by the Green Party to eventually eliminate poverty stop short of research leading to implementation of a Guaranteed Liveable Income. Certainly it will be my duty to press for bolder steps.

I consider the program another way of "paying forward" for a brighter future for many.

Press Release Plus

This morning I congratulated the recent winner of the Sean MacBride Peace Prize, Doug Roche. Doug replied from New York where he is busy lobbying for nuclear weapons disarmament at the annual UN talks. He is ninety years old.  

And I have been struggling with the sense that I am too old to be starting a career in politics!

I am no stranger to challenges, from public speaking in 4-H to becoming the first female physician in Wynyard to teaching medicine in Iraq. As a candidate, my passions for health, justice and the environment will be given priority.

My career has always focussed on the needs of rural people for equity in health care. I have worked as a clinical doctor, an instructor and as an administrator. I have had experience in Ottawa lobbying on behalf of Physicians for Global Survival and was given a lifetime award in the Canadian Medical Association for my advocacy work.

My husband, Bill Curry, and I jointly won the Saskatchewan Global Citizen Award in 2010 for decades of volunteer work in areas of justice, environmental activism and international health. We have lobbied for poverty reduction, jobs and access to clean water. I believe that Canada urgently needs a national water plan to secure this resource for Canadians. Bill died suddenly in 2015 but his spirit lives on when issues of violence, illicit drug use, police training, appropriate sentencing and jails are addressed. This includes and is not limited to fulfilling the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

I am furious with the waste of time that federal parties undergo in their rush for brinkmanship. We've already seen the incredible waste of money that the Ford administration has undergone because their desire was to cut everything that the Liberals had done - hence paying millions of dollars for broken contracts. Kenney has already followed suit in the cancelation of a multimillion dollar hub in Edmonton. Federally, the pot is calling the kettle black - the Cons and the Libs duke it out verbally, neither really able to claim moral advantage - and no business gets done.

I am annoyed that bills on the national security overhaul (C-59) and the changes to First Nations' child welfare acts may not get passed (C-92). Two much smaller bills are at risk as well, one on pardons for simple pot possession and the other for revision of the no-fly lists (so that 8 yr-olds with names similar to someone legitimately on the list are no longer harassed in airports). Awaiting passage as well is a ban on tanker traffic along the Northern BC coast (C-48).

I am encouraged by seeing people everywhere working together to tackle climate disaster - I believe that humans are ultimately smart people who are concerned about survival. We find change difficult unless there are positive enticements - and largely there are! Some things are not right-left issues, they are smart-dumb issues - business as usual is a dumb issue.

The Green Party acknowledges that climate change is real and includes urgent planning in its platform. Leader Elizabeth May says that the time to act – for the sake of our children and grandchildren – is now.

I plan to use examine the platform of the national Green Party, policy for policy.....and to document my trials and tribulations during this campaign. For more information, you can phone or text 306 560 7577.  Go the website www.greenparty.ca or contact me directly at mdmd@sasktel.net. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter as daledewar. 

Dale's Bio

Dale Dewar

Dale Dewar is no stranger to challenges, from public speaking in 4-H to teaching in Northern Iraq; she is ready to take her place in the 2019 election in Andrew Scheer’s riding, Regina-Qu’Appelle. As a candidate, she can give a voice to issues of environment, justice and health. Dale admits that running in opposition to a sitting party leader makes this challenging but states that “it would be a lot harder for me to stay home”. 

Dr. Dewar is a rural doctor and Associate Professor of Family Medicine with the University of Saskatchewan.  She worked as a clinical physician in Wynyard, SK, off and on for thirty years, with Northern Medical Services for seven years and continues to provide medical care to isolated communities above the Arctic Circle. She now calls herself “sort of” retired.

Dr. Dewar and her husband, Bill Curry, jointly won the Saskatchewan Global Citizen Award in 2010 for decades of volunteer work in environmental activism and health. In 2013 she received a lifetime membership award in the Canadian Medical Association for her advocacy for rural physicians and rural populations and for her international educational work. 

Dale is more than a survivor of many kinds of losses, broken bones and chronic pain. Bill died suddenly in 2015 at the age of 73 – Dale now lives with three cats, one dog, and seven chickens in a passive solar house on an organic acreage in the Touchwood Hills between Raymore and Wynyard. Their three grown daughters (one with a spouse) are divided between Winnipeg and Calgary. Her interests include but are not limited to health, writing, reading, yoga, cooking, gardening, doing sudukos, watching Rupaul’s drag race and tending to her animals.