{"id":15,"date":"2007-08-12T15:00:23","date_gmt":"2007-08-12T22:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/greenpolitics\/2007\/08\/12\/the-leadership-line-up\/"},"modified":"2007-08-12T15:00:23","modified_gmt":"2007-08-12T22:00:23","slug":"the-leadership-line-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/greenpolitics\/2007\/08\/the-leadership-line-up\/","title":{"rendered":"The BC Leadership Line-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

First impressions of the BC Green leadership contenders<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Jack_Etkin_01_half.jpg\"<\/td>\n\"Damian_Kettlewell_01_half.jpg\"<\/td>\n\"Jane_Sterk_01_half.jpg\"<\/td>\n\"Ben_West_01_half.jpg\"<\/td>\n\"Sylvaine_Zimmermann_01_half.jpg\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jack Etkin<\/b><\/font><\/td>\nDamian
Kettlewell<\/b><\/font><\/td>\n		Jane Sterk<\/b><\/font><\/td>\nBen West<\/b><\/font><\/td>\nSilvaine
Zimmermann<\/b><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Now that the summer holidays are upon us and the last thing British Columbians want to think about is politics, the BC Green party<\/a> leadership race is finally getting under way.<\/p>\n

Brilliant! Which amazingly intelligent political strategist came up with that fortuitous timing?<\/p>\n

Not that these braves souls can ever be accused of shirking an impossible task. After all, they are hoping to save an entire planet, or at least, a whole province.<\/p>\n

You may have thought this contest would have gotten underway earlier. Former leader Adriane Carr<\/a> resigned as long ago as last November, so the astute members of the party’s governing council had plenty of opportunity to give its leadership contenders a better chance of meeting the membership at a time when they would more likely be home. Why so late in the year?<\/p>\n

Apparently, the party’s provincial council didn’t want a leadership race this year, preferring to hold off until 2008. This would have given them many more months free of dealing with a pesky new leader who may have ideas, or – horror of horrors! – democratic ideals, of his or her own.<\/p>\n

Mind you, with all the shenanigans that went on around the former leader,<\/a> one can understand council’s reluctance to take on another prima donna.<\/em><\/p>\n

And after sitting on its hands for six months, provincial council also decided not to promote the leadership race by sponsoring a province-wide, all-candidates’ tour. Although this would bring welcome media attention to the BC Green party, provincial council apparently preferred to let the leadership candidates prove their worth in fundraising by forcing each one to go it alone.<\/p>\n

That’s a very short-sighted policy, in my view – unless it was designed to help those candidates with time on their hands and access to deep pockets. Of this, we may never know.<\/p>\n

And in the Green corner….<\/p>\n

Lack of official party support for a leadership tour means I have yet to meet all the contenders. This first impression is gleaned from brief conversations plus a close inspection of their respective campaign web sites (if they have one). <\/p>\n

I’m planning to send out an email survey to each and publish the results, but that’s for later. For now, I’ll evaluate them on a first-impression basis, on their:<\/p>\n