Green Campaign ' on winning seats,' may says

Green party leader Elizabeth May, departed from the discussions of the heads will be televised later this week, took to the airwaves in a national broadcast Sunday night which saw a panel of journalists grill him on the platform and the electoral aspirations of his party.

"We are serious." "We are pragmatic about the issues that matter to Canadians," can be said in his remarks. "And they do not find a better platform for any of the other political parties."

May has invited several television stations, CHCH in Ontario and CHEK in British Columbia Colombia, and the other four heads of major party political debate, but only the Green Chief agreed.

She was interviewed by journalists from the Toronto Sun, Toronto Star and the Hamilton Spectator in a half-hour program called Elizabeth May, For the Record.

After may confirmed that "it's election is subject to win seats" for his party, journalists asked him where she thought that the Greens could make the elusive breakthrough asked and capture a constituency to the House of Commons.

May replied that she thinks that it is current neck-and-neck with conservative candidate in the riding of British Columbia Colombia of Saanich-Gulf Islands Gary Lunn and maintained Greens also have a chance for Vancouver Centre, Yukon and the districts of Guelph and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Ontario.

She then swat away sharp investigations of journalists, which asked him to account for 2 million per year than his party receives public funding to all the main political parties, as well as to explain why voters should choose green if they have almost no chance of forming a Government.

May, is to the left, supporters at a campaign in Halifax Saturday gathering. Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press

"The only way a citizen in the Canada may waste their vote is not to vote," it can be said. "Canadians are so disillusioned frankly an existing political parties in Parliament." … This is a very clear message to vote Green. ?

She noted that the NDP under the former leader Tommy Douglas never formed Government but nonetheless forced the creation of the health care system to the Canada.

On the question of financing of elections, may said federal funding for political parties is "a public plan fair" - and, for a total cost of less than $ 30 million per year, step in line with the cost to the taxpayers by allowing deductions of tax on donations of individual parties policies.

The Conservatives have assailed the public-financing law and attempted unsuccessfully to repeal it.

The consortium of broadcasters hold leaders debates chose to exclude may on the grounds that the Greens did not have a member in the last legislature.

Then, the Federal Court of Appeal declined to hear a court from the decision of the consortium may challenge before the first debate, in English, on Tuesday.

The Greens did not get a seat on the federal election of 2008, but has attracted nearly one million votes. The Bloc Québécois 1.4 million votes he won 49 seats, in comparison.

Perhaps submission for inclusion in the debates was supported by two former Prime Ministers - Joe Clark and Paul Martin - as ombudsman of the SRC Kirk LaPointe, former Chief of the Department of elections, Jean-Pierre Kingsley and fair to the Canada.

"Our system allows you to elect a representative in a district with as little as 35 to 40% of the vote," it can be said Sunday, the electoral structure underlying the difficult situation of the her party. "60 To 65 percent of voters in that district have no representation and is anti-democratic."

Four other party leaders national - Conservative leader Stephen Harper, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, new democratic party leader and leader of Bloc Québécois, Gilles Duceppe - will be beat you in a debate in Ottawa on Tuesday English and a French debate Wednesday.

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Archive: Winning practice of women against men

By Ira Boudway

Lorin Dixon keeps Matthew Lisi while teams scrimmage Guido Vitti for Bloomberg Businessweek

It is time that three practice of Eurobasket women University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., coach Geno Auriemma are not happy. One of his team players practice 15, a sophomore unknown keeps hitting shots of jumping on Maya Moore, senior all-American three times. "How the hell is happening?". Application for Auriemma. "Show us exactly what happened," that it requires. "How it it a break."

That's right, it. Connecticut head team is among the two-thirds of the Division I women's basketball programs this practice against male players, a National Collegiate Athletic survey. Assn.. 2007. Coach Pat Summitt, the most victorious coach unprecedented in the history of college basketball, the University of Tennessee has used men since their engagement at the school in 1974. Duke, Michigan and UCLA play also against male, just as sex teams the half of the women's National Basketball Association teams. Auriemma has started using men shortly before its first championship UConn Huskies in 1995 when Greg Yeomans, who later marched on the team male and some of his friends came to a practice. Auriemma liked what he saw, and since then, he said men were "one of the most important aspects of our program."

Because men, less those who gravitate competition round ball, are generally built larger, stronger and faster than women, teams use them as a form of overload training. It's like wearing ankle weights at run time. "As far as the speed and force, you will not find better teams" Moore said, comparing the UConn Huskies practice squad with his game-day opponents. "We have to have something extra to follow with them."

If it were not for the guys, starters would practice against the bench players, which, in General, are not as good as the first team. In addition, a coaching point of view, guys are the dream of superfluous work management. "We do not have to worry about whether they will be ready to play," said Auriemma. "We do everything we want with them, and they love it." Tell you to play defence for an hour, they play.

Incentives for men are less obvious, other than to have a story to tell their friends in 15 years. Rules of the NCAA prohibiting them to receive financial assistance to participate, so the most they are allowed to obtain is practical. At UConn Huskies, where Nike (NKE) is passed to $ 46 million over 10 years for the outfit, practice players teams get Dri-FIT underwear, socks, shorts, sweaters, shoes and occasionally costume of sweat and jacket. Yet, he obtained there be ways easier to get the sneakers that devote up to 15 hours in a practice of the week with a team that will never let you in a game. So why do?

"Play every day, you can abandon that," said senior Eric Carroll. Practice players are usually hoops junkies, who played in high school, but were sentenced by the same genetic coding that makes them ideal practice fodder: they were not grand, fort and enough fast to hack into Division I ball. "Playing basketball all your life and a Division I school where you are not then a Division I basketball player, kind you of go through withdrawal," said senior Stephen Mahier. "" "". You can play all pick-up, you want to, but part of a team is something that I really miss. ?

UConn Huskies wants his practice team to look like a team. Matt Gade, a 24-year old student and practice player old, took over the team in 2009. "When I started it was kind of one-of-mouth thing", he said. "It was almost a bunch of bums". The players wore their own equipment and are only sporadically. Since then, he has formalized the process. With assistant coach of the women Shea Ralph, he scouts games intramural and brings potential readers for pre-season training. Auriemma, who has the control final squad, said that he is "guys who do not have an ego - the guys who do to go and come home here and say,"Hey, I've blocked Maya Moore shot five times."" "

Chest-shocks ego gratification is out of the question. Therefore some of the physical exhibit associated game of men. Shot blocking, for example, is often limited since few opponents of the UConn Huskies featured advocates who often do. But for the most part, men compete with women in terms of the level. ("If one of them hit me in the mouth or something, it is," says Moore.) Pats congratulations on the thigh after the good parts are same in both directions in practice.

Camaraderie carries off the coast of the Court. Men and women stroll around campus, including a pumpkin sponsored by the team of sculpture in the fall. Although none of the guys would be ' fess to any ballads. ("Probably lots of guys on the wish of the practice team," said Mahier.) The floor, men also have the opportunity of basking in reflected glory: last April, during Final Four women in San Antonio, 10 of them to watch the team play.

However, the stamp of the practice team is limited. Friends of Mahier ridicule him regularly. "I would like to see you come here and Maya custody for a piece, not to mention a practice any", he tells them. It is something else, the guys in practice obtain: rare overview of the gender gap. It may be a surprising experience. "Everyone thinks, guys against girls, we're automatically going to win," said Mahier, "which is completely not the case, because I get my ass kicked day and out." For Auriemma, it is one more reason to have men autour. "They help to spread the Gospel to all the guys here."

This is a reversal of roles stark for a group of guys who were often at the top of the social hierarchy in high school. This is something not lost on Maya Moore. "The coolest part is humility," she said, "because I know in our society, if a girl beats, you..." Auriemma sees same altruism. "They love to improve the quality of our players," he said, "of which they know they are." And sports shoes are not bad. "All my friends are speechless that I bring in new shoes," said Mahier, "they like,"dude!"" "

Boudway is a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek.

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