Green Party of Canada


The Green Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada that was founded in 1983 focused on green politics. Since 4 November 2019, the party has been led on an interim basis by Jo-Ann Roberts. The party's parliamentary leader is Elizabeth May, who previously served as overall leader from 2006 to 2019.
The Green Party has gradually increased its support over the decades and is currently the fifth party in the House of Commons. The party elected its first Member of Parliament, then-leader Elizabeth May, in the 2011 election. In the 2019 election, the party expanded its caucus to three.

History

About two months before the 1980 federal election, eleven candidates, mostly from ridings in the Atlantic provinces, issued a joint press release declaring that they were running on a common platform. It called for a transition to a non-nuclear, conserver society. Although they ran as independents, they unofficially used the name "Small Party" as part of their declaration of unity - a reference to the "small is beautiful" philosophy of E. F. Schumacher. This was the most substantial early attempt to answer the call for an ecologically oriented Canadian political party. A key organizer was Elizabeth May, who was the leader of the Greens from 2006 to 2019.
The Green Party of Canada was founded at a conference held at Carleton University in Ottawa in 1983. Under its first leader, Trevor Hancock, the party ran 60 candidates in the 1984 Canadian federal election.
The Quebec wing hosted the 1990 Canadian Greens conference in Montreal. But soon after that, Canada's constitutional problems interfered, and many Quebec candidates abandoned the Greens in favour of a Quebec sovereigntist party, the Bloc Québécois. There were only six Green candidates from Quebec in the 1993 election. In the spring of 1996, although the hopes of electing a representative to the BC legislature proved premature, Andy Shadrack in the interior of the province received over 11% of the vote. Overall, the party's proportion of the popular vote surged to a new high. Shadrack was also the most popular Green candidate in the 1997 federal election, scoring over 6% of the popular vote in West Kootenay-Okanagan.

Joan Russow years

British Columbia's Joan Russow became leader of the Green Party of Canada on 13 April 1997. Russow won 52% of the ballots cast in the 1997 leadership race, surpassing Ontario's Jim Harris and Rachelle Small. Immediately upon attaining the leadership, Russow was plunged into a federal general election. Russow's campaign in 1997 set a number of important precedents. The 1997 federal election was the first campaign in which the Greens conducted a national leader's tour, presented a national platform and a bilingual campaign. Previous campaigns, due in part to the party's few resources and, in part, to the party's constitutional straitjacket, had been characterized by policy and spokespeople operating, at best, province-by-province and, at worst, riding-by-riding. In her own riding of Victoria, Russow received just shy of 3000 votes and 6% of the popular vote.
In 1998, the party adopted a rule that forbids membership in any other federal political party. This was intended to prevent the party from being taken over. A small number of Greens who advocate the more cooperative approach to legislation objected to the rule not to hold cross-memberships, a tool they occasionally employed.
Since its inception, the party has been developing as an organization, expanding its membership and improving its showing at the polls. In the 2000 federal election, the party fielded 111 candidates, up from 78 in 1997.
Candidates were not run in Newfoundland and Labrador, as a result of ongoing divisions over Joan Russow's refusal to endorse the Green candidate in an earlier St. John's West by-election. This caused much uncertainty and friction between Newfoundland's Terra Nova Green Party Association and the Green Party leader as the party gradually adapted to the realities of functioning as a true national party rather than a disorganized federation of local activists.
The conflicts left Russow isolated and alienated from most members of the party. Volunteer efforts were substantially absorbed in provincial campaigns between 2001 and 2003, and the federal party became dormant between elections, as was typical in the past. Chris Bradshaw served the party as interim leader from 2001 to February 2003. During his term, the party ended its sharing of office and staff with the Ontario party, establishing its own office in the national capital of Ottawa.
Russow left the party in 2001 and has now criticized the Green party for not following their policies. She re-joined the party in 2020 to support Dimiti Lascaris' campaign for the Green Party leadership.

Breakthrough under Jim Harris

In February 2003, Jim Harris, in his second bid for the leadership, defeated John Grogan of Valemount, British Columbia, and Jason Crummey. Crummey was originally from Newfoundland and involved with Newfoundland and Labrador Terra Nova Greens.
During the 2004 federal election the Green Party of Canada became the fourth federal political party ever to run candidates in all the ridings. When the ballots were counted, the Green Party secured 4.3 percent of the popular vote, thereby surpassing the 2 percent threshold required for party financing under new Elections Canada rules.
Momentum continued to build around the Green Party of Canada and in the 2006 federal election the Green Party again ran 308 candidates and increased its share of the popular vote to 4.5 percent, once again securing federal financing as a result.
The party's 2006 election campaign was disrupted by allegations made by Matthew Pollesell, the party's former assistant national organizer, that Harris had not filed a proper accounting of money spent during his 2004 leadership campaign, as required by law. Pollesell issued a request that Elections Canada investigate. Pollesell and another former party member, Gretchen Schwarz, were subsequently warned by the party's legal counsel to retract allegations they had made or face a possible legal action. Dana Miller, who served in the party's shadow cabinet with responsibility for human-rights issues, made public her earlier complaints that the party has violated election law and its own constitution and has also asked for an Elections Canada investigation. Miller had been expelled from the party after filing a complaint within the party in April.

Arrival of Elizabeth May

A leadership vote was held at the party's August 2006 convention. On 24 April 2006, Jim Harris announced his intention not to stand for re-election as party leader. Three candidates officially entered the leadership race: David Chernushenko, Elizabeth May, and Jim Fannon. May won the leadership with 65% of the vote on the first ballot.
On 22 October 2006, Elizabeth May announced she would run in the federal by-election to be held on 27 November 2006, in London North Centre, Ontario. She finished second behind the Liberal candidate but garnered 26% of the popular vote.
Even though they had never held a seat yet, Elizabeth May's Green Party began to receive more mainstream media attention on other party policy not directly related to the environment – for example, supporting labour rights and poppy legalization in Afghanistan.
On 30 August 2008, Vancouver area MP Blair Wilson became the first-ever Green Member of Parliament, after sitting for nearly a year of the 39th Canadian Parliament as an Independent. He had been a Liberal MP, but stepped down voluntarily from the caucus earlier in the parliament after anonymous allegations of campaign finance irregularities, most of which he was later cleared after a 9-month investigation by Elections Canada. Wilson had joined the Green Party during Parliament's summer recess and never sat in the House of Commons as a Green MP.
After initial opposition from three of the four major political parties, May was invited to the leaders' debates. In the 2008 federal election, the party increased its share of the popular vote by 2.33%, being the only federally funded party to increase its total vote tally over 2006, attracting nearly 280,000 new votes. However, the party failed to elect a candidate. Some prominent Green Party members blamed the public discussion of strategic voting and the media's misrepresentation of May's comments during the election campaign for the failure of some promising candidates to reach Election Canada's 10% reimbursement threshold, as well as reducing the party's federal funding based on popular vote.
On 11 August 2010, 74% of Green party members voted to hold a leadership review after the next election, instead of in August 2010, which was when May's four-year term as leader was set to end.

Greens in Parliament

, Green Party leader Elizabeth May became the first elected Green Party MP to sit in the House of Commons. She won the riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands in coastal British Columbia. In winning her seat, May also became one of the few Greens worldwide to be elected in a federal, single-seat election. On 13 December 2013, Thunder Bay—Superior North MP Bruce Hyer, who had left the New Democratic Party in 2012 to sit as an independent after breaking party lines to vote in favour of a repeal of the Long Gun Registry, joined the party, resulting in a record two-member caucus in parliament. showing support for Green candidates by riding
In August 2014, President elect Paul Estrin published a blog post on the Green Party's website criticizing the actions of Hamas during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. In his article, "Why Gaza Makes Me Sad", Estrin talked about Hamas' "desire to obliterate" the State of Israel and how the terrorist group uses children as human shields. Estrin's blog post was subsequently deleted by the party, with many party seniors and decision makers, including Elizabeth May, distancing themselves from Estrin, with a large majority of the party calling on him to resign. On 5 August, Estrin resigned, criticizing the party for betraying their commitment to values of inclusivity and open public discourse. Elizabeth May accepted the resignation of Estrin, stating that he was not forced to resign but did so of his own volition. May has said that the problem with his statements were the "confusion" they caused because they differed from party lines, but confirmed that Estrin was indeed a "true Green".
In the federal election on 19 October 2015, May was re-elected in the riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands and was the only Green Party member to win a seat, until 2019. Hyer lost the election to Liberal Party candidate Patty Hajdu in his riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North.
On 6 May 2019, Paul Manly became the second MP elected under the party's banner, after winning a by-election in Nanaimo—Ladysmith. In 19 August 2019, a former NDP and briefly Independent MP Pierre Nantel joined the Green Party during the Parliament's summer recess.
During the 2019 federal election, both May and Manly were re-elected while Jenica Atwin was elected in her New Brunswick riding of Fredericton, making her the third elected Green MP in the federal parliament, and the first Green MP outside of British Columbia.
On 4 November 2019, Elizabeth announced she would be stepping down as leader of the Green Party of Canada. May will continue to act as Parliamentary Leader and sit as a Green member of Parliament. The decision to step down came as a promise to May's daughter. Her successor will be determined in a leadership election to be held on October 4, 2020.

Principles and policies

The Greens have always had leftist and centrist factions that have been ascendant at different times in the party's history. Many Greens also claim that this traditional left-right political spectrum analysis does not accurately capture the ecological orientation of the Green Party that is neither pragmatic or principled.
Following Elizabeth May stepping down as party leader, ten candidates are facing off in the subsequent 2020 Green Party of Canada leadership election. While the candidates offer different visions for the future of the party and make various policy proposals, they all agree that climate change is a serious issue and oppose the construction of new pipelines.

Principles

The Green Party of Canada is founded on six key principles that were adopted at the 2002 convention of the Global Greens. These principles are:
During the 2019 election campaign, the Green Party dropped the nomination of Marthe Lépine as Green candidate in Glengarry—Prescott—Russell because she held "pro-life" beliefs. John Chenery, director of communications for the party, stated that “the Green Party will always fight for access to timely, safe, legal abortions”. Lépine's name remained on the ballot as the candidate filing deadline passed when she was dropped.

Leadership

In March 2018, then-Green party Leader Elizabeth May appointed journalist and broadcaster Jo-Ann Roberts as a deputy leader along with environmentalist Daniel Green of Montreal. Roberts ran as Green party candidate in a Victoria, B.C. riding during the 2015 federal election and finished second.
On 4 November 2019, Green party Leader Elizabeth May announced that effective that day, she would be stepping down as leader of the Party but remaining leader of the Parliamentary caucus, with deputy leader Jo-Ann Roberts assuming an interim leadership role. The Green Party will hold a leadership election in October 2020 to determine her successor.

Party leaders">Party leader">leaders

Source
#LeaderTerm startTerm end
1Trevor Hancock19831984
2Seymour Trieger19841988
3Kathryn Cholette19881990
4Chris Lea19901996
5Wendy Priesnitz19961997
*Harry Garfinkle 19971997
6Joan Russow19972001
*Chris Bradshaw 20012003
7Jim Harris20032006
8Elizabeth May20062019
*Jo-Ann Roberts 2019present

Party parliamentary leader(s)">Parliamentary leader">parliamentary leader(s)

ElectionLeaderSeats won+/-Votes%RankStatus/Gov.
1984Trevor Hancock26,9210.21% 7th
1988Seymour Trieger 47,228 0.36% 7th
1993Chris Lea 32,979 0.24% 10th
1997Joan Russow 55,583 0.43% 6th
2000Joan Russow 104,402 0.81% 6th
2004Jim Harris 582,247 4.32% 5th
2006Jim Harris 665,940 4.48% 5th
2008Elizabeth May 941,097 6.80% 5th
2011Elizabeth May 1 576,221 3.91% 5th
2015Elizabeth May 605,637 3.45% 5th
2019Elizabeth May 2 1,189,607 6.55% 5th

Source:

Electoral status

There have been five Green Members of Parliament in Canadian history:
Two other Members of Parliament have been affiliated with the Green Party, but not as caucus members:
In the 2004 election, the consortium of Canadian television networks did not invite Jim Harris to the televised leaders debates. The primary reason given for this was the party's lack of representation in the House of Commons. There were unsuccessful legal actions by the party, a petition by its supporters to have it included, and statements by non-supporters such as Ed Broadbent who believed it should be included. The Green Party was also not included in the leaders' debates for the 2006 election. The same reason was given.
On 8 September 2008, the consortium announced that they would once again exclude the Greens from the French and English debates for the 2008 election. The party had secured a seat in the House at this point, satisfying the necessary criteria used in all previous debates dating to at least 1993. While Wilson was not elected as a Green MP, nor had he even sat in the House as one, the situation paralleled that of the Bloc Québécois in 1993. All of the Bloc's members had been elected as either Conservatives or Liberals or, in Gilles Duceppe's case, as an independent, before the group formally registered as a political party. The Bloc was nevertheless included in the 1993 debates.
However, the consortium said that three parties had threatened to boycott the debate if the Green Party was included, and that it had decided it was better to proceed with the four larger parties "in the interest of Canadians". Liberal leader Stéphane Dion supported May's inclusion in the debates but said he would also pull out if Harper withdrew. Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe said that while his party was against the Greens' inclusion, he would attend the debate whether or not they were included. The Green Party said it would sue to force the consortium to allow it to participate. This was not necessary, however, because of the networks' reversal two days later. Many people protested and threatened to boycott Layton and Harper by staging protests, as well as phoning in and e-mailing the networks and the opposing parties, prompting both parties to recant their position.
In the 2011 Canadian federal election, the consortium of broadcasters playing host to the political debates announced it would only invite the leaders of the four recognized parties in the House of Commons, namely the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP. Therefore, the Green Party would be excluded. "This is an unacceptable, outrageous, high-handed attempt to shut down democracy in this country," May said in an interview aired on CBC News.
Prior to the October 2015 Federal election, May was invited to participate in two of the debates: one hosted by Maclean's magazine on 6 August 2015 and the first French language debate hosted by Radio-Canada on 24 September 2015. However, May was excluded from the other two debates. After being advised of the exclusion from The Munk Debate on Canada's Foreign Policy on 28 September 2015, May took her message to social media where she attacked the Harper government using tweets on Twitter.
In the 2019 election, May was excluded from the first French-language debate on October 2, 2019, hosted by TVA. TVA's criteria for inclusion in this debate was to have elected at least one MP in Quebec in the previous election, which the Green Party failed.

Provincial and territorial parties

Nine provinces and one territory have an active Green party. While these parties and the Green Party of Canada share values and often supporters, they operate as independent entities and do not have common membership.
Currently, fourteen Green legislators sit in provincial legislative assemblies, including eight in Prince Edward Island, two in British Columbia and New Brunswick, and one in Ontario. The Greens in Prince Edward Island are the first Green party to form the official opposition in any provincial assembly.
The only province without a green party is Newfoundland and Labrador. An association called the Terra Nova Greens, created in 1996, was previously the Green Party of Canada's "Official Unit" for the province. TNG was never a registered party, but fielded independent candidates in three provincial general elections. They remained the federal party's "Official Unit" until 2007, but most supporters cut ties to the national party in 2006 over its opposition to the traditional Newfoundland seal hunt. As of 2014, there are ongoing efforts to establish a provincial green party in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have legislatures that use non-partisan consensus government. As such, there are no registered green parties in these territories.
PartySeats / TotalRole in legislatureLast electionLeader
Green Party of Alberta2019Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes
Green Party of British Columbia2017Adam Olsen
Green Party of Manitoba2019James Beddome
New Brunswick Green Party2018David Coon
Nova Scotia Green Party2017Thomas Trappenberg
Green Party of Ontario2018Mike Schreiner
Green Party of Quebec2018Alex Tyrrell
Green Party of Prince Edward Island2019Peter Bevan-Baker
Saskatchewan Green Party2016Shawn Setyo
Yukon Green Party2016Frank de Jong