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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

ADAM OLSEN: Just as the Heads of the Houses who have fought alongside House Stark for eternity, are splitting hairs about Jon's decision to give up his Crown, we are also bickering about the sides of our House



This tweet from Torrance Coste, campaigner for the Wilderness Committee, caught my attention:

Centrism can’t beat the right anymore. We learned that down south in 2016, and in #Alberta tonight. Do we have to get this wrong again in the fall? Neoliberalism is done — we need a bold left alternative, or we’ll get right-wing populism

Jon Snow ~~ Game of Thrones
It was a response to the Alberta election but it reminded me of another significant event from just a few days earlier, the first episode of the final season of Game of Thrones.

How are this tweet, the Alberta election and the hit show connected? Good question! As I see it, the epic battle that has been brewing in the show for the past seven seasons is a metaphor of the challenge we face with global warming.

The show is a rather brutal, gory study in power dynamics. As a massive, seemingly invincible army of the dead is marching south, the Lords, Ladies, Queens and Kings of the seven kingdoms are fighting over who owns the Iron Throne, even if they would own it just for the final minutes before their inevitable destruction.

Jon Snow has seen what is coming. He realizes that their only hope is to overcome the bitter battles that have divided the seven kingdoms for a thousand years. So, he is frantically working to collect a response that is as robust as the problem they face. His response includes giving up his own Crown, and the power vested in it by all the Houses in the North, to someone else.


Power struggle

I have a front row seat at the provincial table and I have some insight into these power dynamics. I cannot help but draw the comparisons to our current situation. Just as the Heads of the Houses who have fought alongside House Stark for eternity are splitting hairs about Jon's decision to give up his Crown, we are also bickering about the sides of our House.

That is what caught my attention in Torrance's tweet. It is not a call to come together in a collective effort to tackle the defining crisis of our time.

Instead, it is a hardening of the deep divisions that are nothing more than absurd human constructs that allow us to take hold of power over each other, even for the final seconds before our own demise.

Check out the ridiculous battles on twitter each day between the members of the government and opposition. Apparently, it actually matters little who is sitting on what side of the debate.

Indeed, the famous motto of House Stark, "winter is coming", is an ominous prophecy for our time.

We have an opportunity to address collapsing ecosystems and species extinction, the devastating impact of a changing climate. But, if we insist on arguing about who wears the crown and who has the right to sit on the throne, then our House will remain divided, vulnerable and we will fall.

Jon Snow figured it out. Will we? I sure hope so, otherwise this whole game of thrones we have constructed is utterly meaningless.



Adam Olsen ... is a Green Party Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Saanich North and the Islands. Born in Victoria, BC in 1976, Adam has lived, worked and played his entire life on the Saanich Peninsula. He is a member of Tsartlip First Nation (W̱JOȽEȽP), where he and his wife, Emily, are raising their two children, Silas and Ella.
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