Letter to Commissioner of Canada Elections

Tim:

I just wanted to tell you that people are listening to your point of view.  The problem is that the Green Party is a collection of very opinionated people who are mostly very emotionally driven by concern about the future of the world/nation.  People are very upset, but there is no consensus about the best way to do things.

I was of the opinion that we were slowly working towards a consensus before Elizabeth May entered the race for the leadership.  But she brought in so many new members that all this work was pretty much undone (sort of like trying to get a hockey team to "gell" and then getting 2/3s of the team replaced in the middle of the season.)  Most of these people don't really know anything at all about politics except what they have learned from the media and other political parties---which are heavily slanted towards "business as usual". 

My particular take on the issue is that it is a waste of time and energy to think that if we just are "professional enough" in things like how we present our leader, we will start winning seats.  Instead, I have argued that the Greens will only succeed if they wage the political equivalent of a
"guerrilla war" through Alinsky-style community organizing techniques.   Unfortunately, I don't think that Elizabeth and the team around her know anything about doing stuff like this.  In her case, this is understandable because she comes from an NGO background that was based on media stunts (e.g. the fast outside the Sidney tar sands), lawsuits (she is a lawyer) and lobbying the government (she did work for the Mulroney Tories.)  What the Greens need to do is something totally different, we need to build up a "community of communities" across the country which will build up support groups for local leaders who can not only get people elected to Parliament, but also to help guide Canada towards a sustainable society. 

Its too bad that David Chernushenko didn't get elected to the position of leader, because I think he was committed to that "community of communities" strategy.  I am heartened that Mike Shreiner has been acclaimed leader of the Green Party of Ontario, who I believe is also committed to this strategic vision.  If so, there will be dividends for the GPC, I understand 60% of the membership actually reside in Ontario.  Lessons learned in the GPO will inevitably spill into the GPC---as they have in the past. 

I think we should remember, however, that there is also a huge opportunity that arose when Elizabeth May was elected leader.  She did bring in a lot of new members and she has raised the profile of the party.  The allegiance that those members brought to mainstream society has dramatically limited the influence of the more Marxist elements of the party, who though small in number created a lot of problems for the previous leader and Federal Council. Moreover, this big group of new members are an opportunity for the party to do internal education and grow up a new generation of local activists who can go out and build that community of communities that we need to change society.