Julie McLaughlin

Not only did Prime Minister Stephen Harper break his 2006 promise for fixed-election-dates and cancel four federal byelections by forcing a premature election that will cost Canadians in the neighbourhood of $300 million, he has also created what will be a mountain of waste from election materials.

The cancelled byelections alone have rendered printed notices, ballots, campaign signs and other materials costing $3.5 million useless. The federal election call was made on September 7, just one day prior to the Westmount-Ville-Marie, Saint-Lambert and Guelph byelections, and less than two weeks before the Don Valley West byelection. The ridings have a combined population of just under 400,000 eligible voters and a total of 27 candidates running — that’s a whole lot of unnecessary election materials.

On to the federal election itself: According to Elections Canada, approximately 550 tonnes of waste was created from the 2006 federal election from ballot boxes, forms, training manuals and signs. That’s the same weight as about 100 elephants. The source (virgin or post-consumer) for election materials depends on where the items are purchased. Elections Canada does not have a green procurement policy that would set out guidelines for purchasing environmentally responsible services and products such as post-consumer recycled paper. Nor is there a policy for recycling all election materials.

Greening elections isn’t even on the radar in most countries. Brazil and Estonia have moved forward with Internet voting and many countries are implementing various forms of electronic voting, but most of these measures are taken with the aim of reducing costs or increasing voter turnout — not to decrease environmental impacts. While electronic voting is gaining popularity and usage, it’s subject to technical problems and is not perceived as secure.

The bulk of the waste generated by elections in Canada comes from candidate promotional materials created to grab the support of 23 million eligible voters in the country’s 308 ridings. This is not accounted for in the 550 tonnes of waste calculated by Elections Canada. This leaves a campaign trail littered with posters, banners, lawn signs, brochures, streamers, leaflets, stickers, pins, calendars, buttons, flags and more.

Most campaign materials are restricted in their use to just one campaign. Lawn signs, billboards, posters, stickers, brochures and buttons are generally marked with the candidate’s name, meaning these one-hit wonders will more than likely end up in the trash.

Camille Labchuk of the Green Party says her party is walking their talk. “We reuse our lawn signs, even when we’ve changed logos we keep the old signs because we think it’s more important to reuse than to have the perfect signs.”

Whenever possible, candidates also take the train instead of flying, ride their bikes within their ridings, use post-consumer recycled paper wherever possible, print with vegetable based inks and source out biodegradable plastics. For swag, the party has organic T-shirts and tote bags made of recuperated cotton (made of fabric scraps generated in garment manufacturing), but they’ve also got the traditional wide assortment of wasteful buttons and stickers.

Daniel Lauzon of the Liberals admits, “Though we do not have a set national policy on waste, we certainly encourage our candidates to use environmentally friendly practices.” He refers to some candidates who have taken unique steps to address campaign waste. John Loewen in Winnipeg South, for example, is using reusable bags as lawn signs. Lauzon says the Green Shift booklet was printed on post-consumer recycled paper, and Stéphane Dion’s tour is carbon neutral. Greenhouse gas emissions are being offset by credits from CarbonZero which will go towards a Quebec project that replaces inefficient gas boilers, used for heating, with new energy-efficient piping systems.

The New Democrats and the Conservatives did not respond as of press time.

The environmental impacts of each candidate’s campaign reflects their attitude towards the environment, arguably as much or more than their platform on topics like climate change, conservation and energy. Along with your list of questions on environmental issues, make sure you find out how your candidate is running their campaign.

LET”S HAVE A CLEAN CAMPAIGN

Is your candidate running a clean campaign? Find out with these questions:

• Are post-consumer, recycled materials being used in campaign materials?

• Are volunteer and campaign meals and drinks being served using reusable or single-use containers?

• Are single-use materials like balloons and confetti being used?

• Is there a plan in place for a zero or near-zero waste campaign?

• Is there a recycling plan in place for the campaign?

• What is the cleanup plan for October 15?