I've received around eight phone calls since yesterday urging me to vote for various candidates for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada. The party must maintain a list of those who haven't voted.
Yesterday I also received my write-in ballot for British Columbia's snap provincial election.
I think I may pass on both.
I'll still vote Green, federally at least. Provincially, I'm not so sure.
When I think of the Green Party what comes to mind is "that horse has left the barn." It's too little, too late. On the environment they're better than the Conservatives or the Liberals but that's faint praise. We're already at "Danger Perilous" but that hasn't translated into an effective response on any scale. Trudeau is still building his infernal pipeline. The Tories continue to pledge their fealty in perpetuity to the petro-state. Despite her Herculean efforts, Elizabeth May never managed to engineer a Green breakthrough. There is not, among the candidates to replace her, anyone of her calibre. The Canadian people just haven't bought into the party.
Provincially, the party is now led by Sonia Furstenau, a U. Vic. history grad and high school teacher. I can live with that. What I can't live with is the Green Party candidate in my riding, Rob Lyon, who proudly describes himself as a life long "staunch conservative." That guy ought to be running for the staunchly conservative B.C. Liberals but that spot is already taken. If that's the best option the Greens can present in my riding I might as well vote NDP in the hope they'll oust the "Liberal" incumbent.
I'm going to sit out this Green Party B.C. business until I can see some reason to support them again. As for the federal Green leadership, I'll leave that up to the many people who care about that far more than I.
The Greens are in a bind. They know that the climate crisis is dire yet they have to appeal to voters. That means broadening the message. B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau has been out talking about nursing homes. Federally I heard someone talking about making the Green Party more socially inclusive. I know there are lots of important issues but we need a political party that gives priority to the environment. We already have three political parties waffling off in other directions. Can't the Greens stay on message?
ReplyDeleteToby, I get the 'broadening the message' business - if it worked. But the Greens don't have a chance of building a significant presence in the Commons within the time remaining to make something happen on climate change. Playing nice is not going to get them or Canada anywhere.
ReplyDeleteIt's time they went insurgent, tearing into the government and the Tories, bloody fang and claw, at every opportunity. Denounce them, expose them, and maybe that will rile up the public. In this constitutional cluster fuck where a 39% vote share can deliver majority rule, paring a couple of percentage points off can doom the Liberals or the Tories to minority governments and that is "meet and just."
Years ago I attended a Council of Canadians meeting where Jane Sterk of the BC Green party tried to rally the troops for a Provincial election.
ReplyDeleteThe lady was articulate, knowledgeable and dedicated; much to admire.
Many of the wannabee Greens that attended were of the opinion that the world's problems were to be solved by dry toilets ,a couple of laying hens and a potters wheel in the front room.
BC's Greens are not of the EU green party stripe.
They are of the over the hill hippy type who are out of touch with reality.
The Greens that I wish to attach to are those that promote local business over multinationals, promote local farming and fishing; local security in self sufficiency .
Correct me if wrong but todays BC Greens seem to focus on not doing! whilst holding almost communist expectations of the state?
TB
Such a pity is all to say. Anyong
ReplyDeleteI actually ponied up $10 so I could vote in the Green leadership race. In a way, it was an enterprise doomed to failure, not a mystery to anyone the least bit aware of trends in CanPoli. What I heard from my guy was that we need to deep-six capitalism, shut down fossil fuels, redress past evils on the way to an inclusive and just economy, and get a real foreign policy that pretty much reverses everything that's been done since... No minced words here. He almost won. Had he won, he would likely have been unelectable, but at least people might have heard a different conversation on a broad spectrum of issues and been given the opportunity to consider some shifts in how we engage in governing. I don't feel that I had a lot personally invested in this affair, but it's clear that nothing good happens until a whole bunch of us re-examine our underlying notions of the world and I would feel remiss had I not engaged. The saddest part was watching Vassy Kapelos on the MoCo read bios from the internet, lay out the odds in the horse race and whatever else these folks do in the guise of analysis, without ever touching on why things are so messed up and why they never change. At least I can look my grandkids in the eye and tell them that I'm working on it.
ReplyDeleteI wish the new leader well although Toronto is a pretty tough nut to crack for the Greens and she'll need to take Morneau's seat to be of much use to the GPC. I am reluctantly going to get involved in the federal Green local riding association to see if they've got any fire in their guts. I don't expect much but, who knows?
ReplyDeletePolitics has taken second place to Covid handouts!
ReplyDeleteTB
Annamie Paul was interviewed on CBC this morning. In the time I had to listen the conversation was all about her being the first black woman national party leader and making the party inclusive. At no point did I hear anything about the environment.
ReplyDelete