Updated: Sep 30, 2020
just about anything if you are completely in the dark about how your preferred leadership
candidate is faring in the contest to replace Elizabeth May as the Leader of the Green Party of Canada. Since I have spent thousands of hours over 15 years working on building the party as a Candidate, Party President, Regional Organizer, door knocker, phone canvasser, web developer, and many other roles, I am hopeful that when the new leader is announced on October 3rd, the out-dated structure that the party is built on will be revealed. The first step towards fixing a problem is realizing that there is one and right now the membership has no idea of how dysfunctional and secretive the governance of the GPC is right now. The ongoing internal behind-the-scenes power struggles at Federal Council and in this leadership contest will soon become apparent to the membership who are paying mild attention. To those of us paying keen attention, it is already a known fact.
Green politics to me is all about making harder decisions that benefit the future since most political decisions are made for the short term.
One common mantra of candidates in the leadership contest is that the members control the party policies. That is true to a point but the leader controls the emphasis and the messaging. The platform for any election is controlled by the leader who appoints the Shadow Cabinet and the Deputy Leaders. We will see what happens with the new leader but clearly they can control the message by way of who they appoint and who they let go. In my opinion there is too much power in the office of leader and be prepared for some fireworks as the power struggles continue. If the party changes its structure to give more power to local EDAs, I believe that will be a strong step towards de-centralization and thus growth.
The platforms for general election purposes that have been presented by the Green Party during Elizabeth May's tenure have all been platforms that I have been proud to represent with the one exception - that solving climate change is strictly about emissions reductions. I has to be about draw down as well.
Currently the policy development process is in review but it is being unnecessarily stalled as there is really not the will in the current Federal Council to include members in just about anything really, in my opinion. It is time for a whole new feel for the Green Party but I can only assume that getting to the proper grass roots structure will take a mammoth effort from those who can think outside the current box. What are your thoughts?