greenpolitics.ca

While the national media pundits have been fantasizing about the possibility of a coalition between the remains of the Liberal party and Jack Layton’s frothy orange NDP, the Green party’s unexpected success in getting its leader Elizabeth May elected in Saanich North has opened up a juicy, sizzling, and wholly tantalizing new prospect.

Where did Canada’s Green parties come off the rails? Or more likely, how come the Greens never really got on track in the first place? I’ve pondered this many times over the past 25 years, and it seems to me that besides the centralised, hierarchical structure I’ve already discussed, the main reasons for its failure are conventional political thinking, political naïvité, and lack of a strategic vision. But there’s more….

After a quarter of a century of dogged snuffling along the trail of electoral aspiration, it should be obvious to even the most fervid Green Party supporters that apart from pushing the mainstream political parties to slightly ‘green’ their political image, their collective political effort has resulted in almost complete electoral failure.

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lessons learned: They say that what doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger. Well, I seem to have successfully survived challenging the leader of the Green Party in Saanich-Gulf Islands, so I guess the experience has made me stronger. Among other things, I learned that Elizabeth May‘s leadership has been an unmitigated disaster for Canadian Green politics, from which it may not recover.

formal complaint: Sometimes we either have to do something distasteful, or make a moral or ethical stand. What if that something goes against our principles, or when we see things going on that we believe are not right? Something fishy was definitely going on in Saanich-Gulf Islands. It offended my sense of Green democratic process, and even could be illegal. It was time to blow the whistle.

denial of service: Most of the national media attention focused on my complaint to Elections Canada of possible illegal transfer of funds by the Green Party to the Elizabeth May campaign, which she could use for her nomination. But even more important was the unequal availability of Party services to myself compared to the taxpayer-funded resources it was pouring into promoting the Party leader.

follow the money: Part of my complaint to Elections Canada was that $62,000 had been transferred to the Saanich-Gulf Islands EDA for use by Elizabeth May for pre-writ activities. None of this money was offered to me, even though the Elections Act makes it illegal for a Party to transfer funds to an EDA unless this money is offered to all nomination candidates on an equal basis. How did this money get there?

the green politburo: It took quite a while to make the decision to stand against the leader of the Green Party for nomination as the Green candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands. I knew that running against such a high-profile person would be difficult and make me very unpopular with many Greens. But the more I looking into what was happening, the more I realised that I had to take a stand. If not now—when?

the challenge: I could publish the entire 6,500-word, nine-page letter with its 43 supporting documents that I sent to Elections Canada in support of my complaint about the unfair actions of the Green Party in Saanich-Gulf Islands—but mercifully, I won’t. Instead, here’s a taste of what I went through; some of the things I learned; and some political questions that my experience raised. It’s a complex tale.