Double Blind

I have said this before, but Elizabeth May is an absolutely horrible leader for the Canadian Green Party – probably at the Stephane Dion level (with the notable exception that she can speak English). She probably cost her party a seat or two in the last Federal election (through her own stubborn insistence on running in Central Nova, and secondly through her campaigning and policies, which turns off swing voters). She’s also continuing to cost the party by funneling money into non-electorally productive areas.

Finally, she’s continuing to alienate half the country by bluntly stating:

“I have told the party I’m prepared to look a bit around, although I don’t want to,” she said. “Anything in Nova Scotia is more palatable to me than having to move out West.”

As long as Elizabeth May is leader of the Green Party, the Green Party will continue to be a marginal force in Canadian politics and will not win a seat. It would not surprise me in the least if their performance in the next election is worse than the 6.78% they achieved in 2008 (most of the electoral growth being in Western Canada, the region that May is alienating with her very statements).

If the Green Party got somebody as a leader that was moderately environmental (not radical), had a “real job” in his/her past career (i.e. not spending his/her lifetime working in an activist group), not American (unlike May), and could speak without sounding like a protester, the Green Party could easily climb up to 10% nationally. An example would be somebody like Gregor Robertson with Central Canadian roots – the Greens would start winning seats.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.