Greening Without the Greens

[webfarmer]

I liked the quote about famous - at least in Canada -Tommy Douglas. Douglas was noted as the "The Greatest Canadian" in a 2004 televised contest by his fellow Canadians. He was also a leader of the fascinating Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF).

Green, Green, Green. But Where is the Mention of the Green Party - Globe and Mail (CA) - 06 Jul 08

"[Canadian Green Party leader] Elizabeth May has had her thunder stolen. Call it the great green robbery. Carbon tax? Green shift? They were hers – until the Liberals moved in. Now green plans are the talk of the country. But no one's talking about her party.

'I mean, every time I open up a newspaper, I see green, green, green,' she said. 'But where is the mention of the Green Party?'

Indeed, while her Greens are doing all right, registering about 10 per cent in the polls, not much momentum has come their way of late. But while she regrets the lack of attention, Ms. May, who's a bit funky, sees no reason to shake off her links with the Liberal Party. 'If you're asking me if the Green tax shift, which is our idea, has been stolen by the Liberals for the election, I don't know and I don't really care. As a party, we're at a point in our evolution that's not far off where Tommy Douglas was when Canada got health care, as advocated by a party not in power.'

And so 'what matters is that we get changes. It doesn't matter if we're the party that does them or that gets the credit. We're probably going to do very well in the next election because Canadians like the fact that we feel that way.'

Ms. May was speaking after flipping pancakes with Miss Alberta at the Calgary Stampede. She once ran a restaurant, her family business in Cape Breton. 'So I know what I'm doing. I'm the only party leader who has cooked pancakes for a living.'"

Comments

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Yes, they are a bit thin but it is there. Sometimes there's a bias against putting too much into party policy papers as the local candidates thus get a bit more wiggle room to cater to their specific constituencies. Also these policies tend to be written by the few folks who have some expertise or motivation in the areas in question and so that tends to limit what shows up. It's not like they are huge well-funded groups. Much of what is done is done in a very ad hoc way. For better or worse. Often for the worse. But with few funds and members, there's no alternative so it's hard to knock them for that.

As long was whatever they are pushing is in line with the key value statements of the Party. I'm certainly good with that strategy. That the Greens actually have written down values that they assert informs their policies is something quite different than other political parties, imo.

From their Wikipedia entry:

"The GPC had originally adopted a form of the Ten Key Values (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Key_Values_of_the_Green_Party) originally authored by the United States Green Party.

The August 2002 Convention adopted the Six Principles of the Charter of the Global Greens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Greens_Charter), as stated by the Global Greens Conference held in Canberra, Australia in 2001. These principles are the only ones included in the GPC constitution."

I couldn't agree more that there's a perception that the Green Parties are just environmental parties no matter what country you're talking about. The exception perhaps being in Germany because of their relative established status there.

I think the biggest problem is that they can't get into the national debates in Canada so people know very little about what they're all about other than they are "green". If they had someone in the federal government, they could get more traction as more than a one-trick pony too. After all, you vote on more than just those things there.