“Federal Council is responsible for the governance, strategic, and financial oversight of our Party. What does this mean to you?”
Jean-Luc Cooke, candidate for President
Governance is oversight.
Governance is not policy development.
Governance is approving budgets for long term goals.
Governance is not getting caught in the details.
Governance is helping achieve our common goals
Governance is not working on personal objectives.
Governance is representing our members interests above all else.
Constantine Kritsonis, candidate for President
Green governance means being a champion for the green values of accountability, transparency and grassroots democracy throughout the GPC. We must model the changes we wish to make in our society to be effective and show the public an alternative to the hierarchical power structures that are the norm elsewhere.
Diversity has an important role to play in good decision making, being core to our Green values. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqFjM7gdCdY&fbclid=IwAR2PSjJES7nyn5qJB3M...
My governance platform advocates:
*General meetings where the entire membership can vote on motions in real time. In a party of participatory democracy within an age of advanced technologies, we should offer equal access to critical decision making for low income and physically challenged members that can not travel to the meetings.
*By-elections for vacant council seats instead of appointments.
*Setting the draft agenda for the BGM by a party wide vote between candidate agendas from any GPC unit or group of 20 members.
*Improving consistency in offering sufficient bylaw notice for BGM's. This enables the hearing of all motion types.
*Insuring equal access to communications for all members with respect to BGM proposals and their prioritization.
*Using all party ballots strictly for voting without attached advocacy for any particular voting result.
* Returning to decades of precedent that encourages members to submit BGM motions, without restrictions on the total number of BGM proposals. Then solid motions are not excluded by arbitrary limits, having the opportunity for discussion and ratification instead.
*Council candidates debates.
Jean Rousseau, candidate for President
Governance is the action of governing, managing and administering.
The GPC is governed by its members, who elect the Federal Council to govern the Party. Members are encouraged to communicate their ideas and suggestions. And the Federal Council ensures that the members’ decisions are honoured and implemented.
Governance is based on a broad set of principles. There are rules and processes in place by which authorities take part in decision-making and implement governance. Decisions are reached through negotiation, a strong sense of ethics and collaborative management. When relationships are based on continuous, consensual interactions… you have good governance. If decisions are made by a closed group, without any consultation or collaboration, and then imposed… what you have is bad governance. Some essential principles:
- Independence: of the directors;
- Integrity: ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. The Federal Council is responsible for administering discipline;
- Accountability: towards members, authorities, the bureau chief and party leader;
- Strategic planning: the Federal Council first questions and debates strategy; approves a strategic plan; and then stays focused on it and tracks its deployment;
- Transparency: means being open and transparent. Communicating whenever necessary, especially in the event of disputes;
- Fairness, balance and diversity: for women, young people and First Nations!
Governance principles, concepts and practices need to be flexible, adapted to the Party. The Fund is the Party’s Chief Agent and Federal Council’s Agent/Treasurer.
Governance may be fairly straightforward to define, but there are obstacles when it comes to implementing it. The main players involved have the power to ensure more effective, decisive governance of the Party.
Thomas Teuwen, candidate for President
It means that Federal Council is directly responsible to the membership and must ensure that our organization is effective at achieving our goals. To do that it must hold a clear vision that aligns with the will of the membership at large and must strive to stay in touch with the ideals and hopes that attract our members to the party.
The council is where all authority resides until some is delegated to others. It is therefore the responsibility of the council to ensure that any delegated responsibility is executed in the service of that vision at all times. To assure this is the case, and gauge our overall effectiveness as an organization, the council’s primary relationship must always be with the membership at large.
Cass Romyn, candidate for Alberta Representative
Federal Council is responsible for how the Green Party of Canada operates, on a progressive and systemic level, which is discussed through various meetings, in a collaborative, professional and virtuous manner. The Federal Council is also responsible for developing optimal strategies for the GPC, based on our 6 guiding principles and utilizing the GPC platform, policies and other supporting documents, to improve Green operations, status and standing among communities in ridings throughout the provinces and territories. Finally, Federal Council is responsible for financial oversight of the Green Party of Canada, meaning those on Federal Council need to be extremely ethical, with an understanding of finances in regards to the GPC’s political statements. I believe that the provincial representatives of the Federal Council should consistently act in a moral and equitable manner when representing their province’s GPC members and EDAs, and while carrying out their various responsibilities.
Jean Cloutier, candidate for Quebec Representative
The Federal Council is responsible for our party’s governance as well as its strategic and financial oversight. I support the decisions taken since our party was founded, if and only if they are based on the Global Greens Charter adopted in Canberra in 2001. I contributed to this Charter through my participation in the past three Global Greens congresses and then passed my experience on to the GPC’s international relations committee from 2008 to 2012. My experience as a public administrator with a master’s degree in public administration specialized in international management, as a journalist who has a degree in journalism and has produced environmental documentaries, and as a municipal, provincial and federal politician would I truly believe be an asset for any governance team, especially if a shared governance approach is adopted. I would like to organize a global greens congress in Québec as well as a bi-annual Green Party Congress to enhance our knowledge of the successes achieved by other green parties and apply that new-found knowledge to our party’s own self-financing endeavors. I would like to relaunch regional constituency associations to promote work in the regions where the party is not as well organized.
I would work with a team to establish our party’s strategic directions and set budget priorities. I commit to relaying information to members in Québec and throughout the country by assiduously attending meetings, by getting the first Green Québec MP elected, and by attending all other functions.
Jency Mercier, candidate for Quebec Representative
Governance in my view is fundamental to establishing guidelines for a board of directors or a party. I sit on the board of directors of the City of Verdun’s greenhouses. I have received tremendous support in this role and I have been entrusted with a mission to expand an urban agricultural project on behalf of municipal councillors. The financial strategies, vision and mission of this not-for-profit organization are all established in a collegial environment. In my view, it is essential that this commitment be undertaken with honesty and integrity, not only for the good of the members but for the good of the entire Verdun community. As a member of the board, I work on developing innovative strategies on behalf of the members. I’m a leader. I embrace challenges. And I have solid ideas for moving an organization forward. The support we have had from our members and municipal councillors has enabled us to expand this NPO over a number of years. The Grand Potager organization promotes start-ups, and I can say that as a dynamic hub for urban agriculture we have recruited many members in the past two years. As a member of the finance committee, I helped secure $45,000 in funding in less than a year: quite an accomplishment. As a visible minority woman, I will generate better group dynamics on the Federal Council: a definite plus in 2019.
Thank you.