May has been on an election ballot twice now -- once in a byelection in London, Ont. and once in a general election. For most parties, a leader that loses two elections is a former leader. But, in my experience, the Greens, for better or worse, hold themselves and May apparently to a completely different standard, one that's difficult for political parties, political journalists and, perhaps, mainstream voters to grasp. The essence of the Canadian Green Party's standard is this: You will NOT be judged by electoral success. Getting MPs elected or winning more votes than the last time is not the objective. The objective is to change things. And if Green Party activism forces change, it matters not which party gets the credit for the change so long as there is change

Abbott is on the verge of losing his truck trailer because, though he’s paid off four years of a five-year government-backed small business loan, his bank says the federal government won’t let him refinance the loan to help tide him over a layoff of a few months this spring. “I didn’t ask for a handout. I’m not asking to get out of my next 10 payments or anything like that,” Abbott said. “It’s just, if I’m not working can I just pay the interest? And the answer is no.”