For Greens, It Shouldn't Matter When the Election Is Called

There has been wild speculation over a fall election as a result of Michael Ignatieff’s comments saying that the Liberals can no longer support the government. Chats are packed, blogs are overflowing, Facebook status updates are speaking of an ominous writ drop and even the leader of the Green Party waged in on the debate on her blog. While it is entirely possible that there will be an election – the evidence points strongly to the possibility (new Liberal ad campaign coming out, Ignatieff’s statements, and a seeming Liberal consensus to wage electoral war now), there is something that should be said with regards to Greens and predicting elections.

Before everyone gets into a fit of panic and political adrenaline goes into overdrive, a simple message should be hammered home to Greens: for the GPC, it shouldn’t matter when the election is.

Of course, the timing of the election is an important determinant of political outcomes. The snapshot of time when the writ drops defines the issues, political choices and messaging strategies that encompass an election. In the 2005/2006, for example, the gist of the election was framed through the lens of scandal and corruption and its counterpart accountability and fairness, a result of political parties bargaining and gambling on the Sponsorship Scandal.

In my experience, however, Greens spend too much time and energy focusing on trying to guess when the next election will be. If the party had the resources of the parliamentary parties (the NDP, Bloc, Liberals and Conservatives), dedicating that time and energy to judging electoral cycles could make sense. But living in a world of fixed resources, the GPC simply doesn’t have that luxury.

Instead the simple point that should be made is that the dramatic hints in election talk shouldn’t be the catalyst to get prepared for an election. Every day ought to be treated as if an election is possible. Every day is a campaign day, a day to get ready, to organize and to plan. With the lack of human and financial resources at the party’s disposal, the GPC should strive to work every day to create the structure and organization that can earn the best results while holding true to its principles.

That means a lot of things. To name a few: broad-based consultation on campaign planning, communications strategies in order to better reflect the will and views of the membership in the planning of the national campaigns; working with local riding associations and candidates to develop and put into action local projects and campaigns that candidates can take to their constituents at any time, even during the low-down days of summer; getting an organizing model in place that makes sense and adequately shares the limited resources that the party has at its disposal; adequately disseminating knowledge and training of all of the tools that campaigns can use such as GRIMES, the voter identification system, sign and brochure templates, policy briefing notes; knocking on doors and identifying voters; and so on and so forth.

Following the last campaign, the leadership decried how unprepared the party was. Elizabeth May said she was “flying by the seat of her pants” and the party was “clearly unprepared”. Meanwhile, many candidates and members collectively raised a brow to ask how a summer was squandered prior to the fall election.

Perhaps that wasn’t surprising. In the first days of the 2008 election, there was an unnecessary scramble to get candidates in place. Two staff members even became candidates. All of this was time and energy that could have – indeed, should have – been spent on helping local campaigns and developing day-to-day national strategies to face emerging campaign challenges.

For the first time since 2004, the GPC failed to run candidates in all of the ridings it was contesting. May herself acknowledged after the election that “Clearly, there needs to be an overhaul of our organizing efforts.” John Bennett, then GPC Director of Communications, declared that “We won’t get caught again”.

All of this isn’t to deny the possibility of an election in the very near future, nor the inherent interest that politically-engaged Canadians have in the game of calling elections. But with only 10% of candidates in place, few new campaign resources being provided to local candidates and campaigns, and many critical campaign questions unanswered, Green political decision-makers should stop worrying so much about when the election will be called and rather ensure that whenever it comes, the party is prepared. After all, only that could ensure that the Green Party is not caught again.

Orgininally posted at http://kerstenskolumn.wordpress.com/