After Tory's embarrassing loss, he had to scramble to find a riding to run in. He managed to get a Conservative MPP to step aside so he could run in what he thought was an easily winnable riding. The result was Tory lost the by-election, cost the party a seat in the legislature, and ultimately his job as party leader.
May has managed to take the Tory debacle and pick it up a notch. She recently announced she will run in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, currently held by, wait for it, a Conservative cabinet minister. One who, by the way, won the riding quite handily. Political pundits have already been critical of May's latest choice of riding to run in, but now a new threat has emerged to May and her desire to run in the B.C. riding. That threat is coming from none other than another Green Party member:
"Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is being challenged by a member of her own party for the nomination in her chosen riding of Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC.
May will have to deal with newly-declared candidate Stuart Hertzog of Victoria, a Greenpeace activist who has been involved with the Green Party in Alberta and British Columbia since 1983, and who is the publisher of the website GreenPolitics.ca.
In a blogpost published late yesterday entitled "Why I am standing as a nomination candidate", Hertzog says he became involved in grassroots activism because "Secret decisions were made behind closed doors, in cabinet or at private meetings with corporate CEOs and lobbyists," that could only be fought by winning the war for public opinion. However, unfortunately he has seen that "the same tendency towards anti-democratic centralisation has become dominant in Canada’s Green parties".
Hertzog says he disagrees with the decision of the Green Party of Canada's Federal Council to make electing the leader its overarching priority, saying that:
"[T]he ‘leader’ of a Green Party is supposed to be a spokesperson, not a dictator. The cult of leadership and its promotion by the corporate media is not Green. I believe that getting the leader of the Green Party elected won’t change anything, except to guarantee the flow of funds to central party coffers and reduce the Green party to being seen as just another bunch of untrustworthy politicians that make self-serving deals...."
Ouch!
'the Green Party in Alberta and British Columbia since 1983, and who is the publisher of the website GreenPolitics.ca'
ReplyDeleteGee, sounds like the kind of guy the Greens would want to keep, not raid his riding for Lizzy to lose...
Lizzy will not run where Liberals have a chance of winning,
because that is not the road to Minister of the Environment.
William In Ajax says...
ReplyDeleteWilson, I borrowed your statement,
"because that is not the road to Minister of the Environment."
and posted it over at greenpolitics.ca.
It goes hand in hand with my belief
that the green party is green in name only, they are just another Liberal party pretending to be something they are NOT.
If some members of the greens were to demand Lizzie run against a strong liberal, (and she did) then at least they could deny their leader is not just another Liberal plant.
Mark my words,
If Lizzie is ever elected under the green banner, she will immediatly show her true LIBERAL red colours and the Green party will be sacrificed on the alter of the ends justify the means.
The only good thing about Lizzie winning is it would shut her up. No party status in the HofC, no budget, no daily outbursts in Q period. Think back, how often did Deb Grey make the news when she was the only Reform member. So, it is a given that if elected she would join the libs in a second. But, at least that would keep her out of any future debates.
ReplyDelete