| You don’t want to call the Green Party of Canada a left-wing party around George Read.
Although that’s the way most Canadians might categorize the party given its platform of environmentalism and sustainable growth, Alberta’s Green party leader gets immediately irritated by that label.
"We’re not left. We’re not right. We’re ahead," he says.
Then he goes on to explain that he doesn’t believe that the concept of a political spectrum, which most Canadians learn in high school social studies classes, is relevant in 2004. He thinks categorizing parties as left, right or centre should’ve ended along with the Cold War.
"It’s all about common sense," he says. "To hell with left or right. Do we want to poison our rivers?"
He cites the fact that the Green party supports electricity deregulation as evidence that it can’t be labeled left wing – its support isn’t based on ideology; Greens think deregulation will provide incentives to support environmentally friendly power generation.
Get him talking about mainstream political parties and Read seems to feel an equal amount of contempt for all of them. He says, for example, that when the NDP has won provincial elections, the party’s environmental record has been as bad or worse than those of Liberal or Conservative governments.
But beneath all of that, Read is an excited man these days. With a federal election looming in the wake of the ascension of new Prime Minister Paul Martin, Read is full of optimism about the future of his party – he doesn’t think it’s far-fetched to imagine the Greens winning some seats in the near future.
Additionally, he’s almost gleeful about new election campaign financing rules that came into effect at the start of the year. He says the new rules will help the party move more into the political mainstream despite receiving less than one per cent of the vote in the last election.
Under the new rules, any registered political party that manages to capture at least two per cent of the vote in a federal election, or at least five per cent of the vote in a specific federal riding, will be eligible for public funding for its next election As well, corporations and trade unions will only be allowed to donate $1,000 to a political party or political candidate.
"It’ll take money away from major parties and they’ll have to do more grassroots campaigning," says Read. "It’ll level the playing field."
The new rules won’t help the Green party right away, because it received only 0.8 per cent of the eligible federal vote in the last election (and a mere 0.5 per cent in Alberta), but Read says the party intends to run a full slate of candidates in the next election for the first time, and is banking on receiving at least two per cent of the popular vote to get that funding. He points to a recent Ipsos Reid poll that said five per cent of the electorate would vote Green in the next election, and says a financial bonanza for the Greens would follow if such results materialize on election day.
"We could hire organizers across the country. Obviously people are excited. It’ll give us the credibility we’ve wanted for a long time," says Read.
Even without the additional funding, Green party members think their message of sustainable economic growth, environmental stewardship and social responsibility gives them a credible shot at taking a few federal ridings.
"In B.C. there are four winnable ridings," says Read. "If we can get one breakthrough candidate in B.C., things will happen faster. We’d have a voice in Parliament and we’d be seen as a credible party."
Political observers, however, say the Greens might want to temper that enthusiasm. Despite a powerful global Green movement – the party is a major political force in Europe and stole thousands of votes in the last U.S. election – political scientists in Alberta are doubtful the party will see a groundswell of popularity in the next election.
"They’d probably cost the NDP some votes, but the NDP doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of forming a government," says University of Calgary political science professor Barry Cooper, a well-known conservative commentator. "They have no chance of electing anyone because they’re based on a moralistic fantasy of the way things ought to be, not the way they are."
"(The Green party) is simply an interest group that’s masquerading as a political party and they see a pot of gold," says Cooper of the party’s plans to capitalize on new election campaign financing.
Fred Judson, acting chair of the political science department at the University of Alberta, agrees that the Green party likely won’t experience "a big spike" in public support in the next election.
"(The environment) is not going to be the cutting concern for voters," says Judson. "The majority of voters are very happy with the very high level consumerist lifestyle (in Canada)… we’re extremely reluctant to change our lifestyle unless we’re pushed to the wall. We don’t have a sense of emergency."
However, Read doesn’t agree that the average voter is satisfied with current North American society.
Read says many Canadians are dissatisfied with mainstream political parties so they don’t vote. The Green party wants to offer these voters, who are often young, another choice, says Read.
"The Green party is the only party stepping outside mainstream political politics," says Read. "What we need is serious societal change. We’ve got this growth model, gigantic houses and SUVs. Do we really need it? The old growth model is forever, ‘let’s clear-cut everything.’ People now realize it’s not sustainable."
Mark MacGillivray, who’s announced he’ll be running as a candidate for the Green party in Calgary North Centre against high-profile Conservative Jim Prentice, says he’s excited that Calgarians will be able to choose from a full slate of Green party candidates in the next election for the first time.
MacGillivray says many people are feeling a growing level of disillusionment about the present and are fearful about the future, and those are the type of voters who gravitate towards the Green party.
"In general we look around. Our society has developed unconsciously. Now we can look at how we do things. We believe we’re smart enough as a society to bring about a sustainable society," says MacGillivray. "We’re taking a new look at old problems." |
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