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Running for VP English on Federal Council

By Ard Van Leeuwen on 22 July 2011 - 8:39am

Last June I threw my hat in the ring for the Federal Council VP English role. It now turns out that the only competition for that position is NOTA, a reliable but silent candidate. I’d still like to find out though if there’s anything on members’ minds concerning these Council elections in particular or GPC governance in general. So, in case you have questions to ask, issues to bring up or comments to make please feel free to drop me a note on this blog post.

To get the basics of my background and campaign, please visit my web site www.ArdForVPEnglish.ca

Thanks, Ard

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Keep us in the press.

Submitted by Bram Kivenko on 24 July 2011 - 11:13pm.

Hi Ard,

Good luck, I heard NOTA sometimes can campaign dirty...  In any event, the way I see it, anyone with any influence at all needs to ensure the GPC has the ability to attract more popular support and also needs to get the GPC more press.

This is obviously not really the role of FC, but this is really what the party needs, so if you can make it happen, I hope you do.

Finally, if FC can somehow find efficiencies for the local EDAs by pooling resources or better organization, that would also be good.

Hi Bram: timely feedback

Submitted by Ard Van Leeuwen on 25 July 2011 - 4:50pm.

Thanks for the note Bram and your overall participation on these blogs.

It just so happens that I fired off a note to the APBC (Annual Plan and Budget Committee) this morning, after an APBC teleconference call, that pretty much suggests exactly those two initiatives as our possible focus until the next election. Council and its committees are now in the process of trying to lay the ground work for a new 4 year plan so your input is timely.

One of the initiatives you touch on could be part of a kind of National Strategy ultimately aimed at increasing our standing in the national polls. On that front we now have a new arrow in our quiver that we didn’t have before: leveraging our potential national media visibility through our first and only MP. The other initiative could be part of a more regional strategy where we focus available GPC resources locally on the half a dozen or so clusters of ridings across Canada where we are relatively strong, the ones where our next seats are most likely to come from.

I’ll let you know where the discussion goes. It will take some time to decide because we need to build a consensus and because we’ve got Council elections coming up that will partially shuffle the deck on who will contribute to making these kinds of decisions. Member input is welcome.

Personally I’m still on the fence (and all ears) as to whether we should try and pursue both a national and regional strategy or whether we only have enough resources to make a noticeable difference in just one of those two initiatives.

Ard Van Leeuwen (Dufferin-Caledon, ON)

The views I express on this blog are purely my own and should not be construed to represent the official position of the Green Party of Canada.