Green is an essential colour in our spectrum
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The following is an excellent article from the Montreal Gazette
Green is an essential colour in our spectrum; [Final Edition]
The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: Apr 30, 2006. pg. A.14
Canada needs a Green Party, a strong sophisticated one willing to say "environmental issues need to be at the top of our national priorities list." Jim Harris, who has led the party in the last two elections, has announced his decision to step down, and a new leader will be named this summer.
As Liberal leadership hopefuls criss-cross the country this summer, the Green Party risks being marginalized again, as tends to happen at election time. The Greens were optimistic after the 2004 federal election, when voters wanted to say "neither one of the above" to the Liberals and Conservatives. The Greens didn't elect anyone that year, but ran a full slate of candidates and amassed 600,000 votes, 4.3 per cent of the total. It was reason for optimism.
But in 2006 the party reached only 4.5 per cent, and again didn't come close to electing a single member of Parliament. The way expectations work is that while 4.3 in '04 was considered great news, 4.5 in '06 was a big disappointment for the party, especially since it had been on the gravy train of subsidies from the government for the first time.
Harris showed some admirable qualities as leader, but he also came under criticism, largely from party members who find his brand of environmentalism a little too cozy with the private sector. On balance he was probably correct to think that his usefulness to the party, if not the movement, is finished. But he, like everyone honourably involved in politics, has earned the respect of all Canadians for his efforts.
There are already two plausible possible candidates to replace him, deputy leader David Chernushenko and Elizabeth May, who was until recently executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada.
A glance at the party's platform reveals the strength, and weakness, of the Harris legacy. The platform does at least touch on each major issue of national concern. But it says more about biodiversity than about Quebec and national unity. Even many of the environmental planks are incremental, rather than radical.
Positioning the Green Party as a potential government, complete with policy on pay equity and regional arts festivals, is a pointless exercise and will likely remain so for decades. That's doubly true for downright foolish platform planks, such as requiring cinemas to offer at least 20 per cent Canadian content.
We've already got lots of parties with priority plans for everything. What Canadians need, we believe, is a truly green Green Party, one which can serve as an energetic, well-informed national conscience, not just another power-seeker.
This country has serious environmental problems, especially the slow-motion catastrophe of climate change. More and more Canadians are willing to listen and learn about that issue in particular, but mainstream parties keep shuffling it to the bottom of the pack of priorities.
It's easy to say "we are all environmentalists now" but if that were true, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions would be dwindling, not increasing.
Canadians need a clear, vigorous Green Party to press the other parties to keep their eye on the ball - the big blue ball we live on.
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