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The Future of Canada’s Green Party
July 02, 2004
Other environmentalists around the world have entered governments-or parliaments-through alliances or proportional representation.
Abstract: Mario Canseco While falling short of the goal of earning a seat in the House of Commons, the Green Party of Canada reached a milestone in last Monday's federal election.
Mario Canseco
While falling short of the goal of earning a seat in the House of Commons, the Green Party of Canada reached a milestone in last Monday's federal election. Under the amended Bill C-24 that regulates public campaign financing, the Greens—who captured 4.3 per cent of all cast ballots—will be eligible to receive a yearly allowance of more than $750,000 U.S. until the next nationwide vote takes place.
Party leader Jim Harris—who ran in the complicated Toronto-Danforth riding alongside New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jack Layton—was at the centre of one of the earliest controversies of the campaign. On Jun. 2, Harris openly complained after being left out of the schedule for the country's televised debates, urging other party leaders to boycott the public meetings.
The broadcasters who organized the debates stated that these were exclusive to parties who have elected representatives in the House of Commons. Harris' protest did not lead to his inclusion, but generated lengthy arguments on whether the media alone should decide which politicians are invited to such events.
Outside of Canada, the success of environmentalist parties has been closely tied either to pre-election alliances, or electoral systems that favour proportional representation.
Still, not all Green parties pursue similar causes, or share comparable values. In Mexico, the Green Environmentalist Party (PVEM) successfully piggy-backed on Vicente Fox's popularity in 2000, becoming part of the Alliance for Change with the National Action Party (PAN). The coalition handed the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) its first presidential election loss in 71 years.
Mexico's Greens were effectively left out of Fox's cabinet in 2000, a fact that precipitated a less than amicable break-up. In the past few months, a corruption scandal involving current leader and senator Jorge Emilio González Martínez—who was caught on video allegedly requesting a $2 million U.S. kickback from real estate developers in exchange for expediting permits in Cancun—has affected public perceptions. Their best-known congressman—Jorge Kahwagi—has made headlines only outside the Chamber, as a participant in Mexico's Big Brother reality show.
This past February, Monica Frassoni—leader of the Green parties in the European Parliament—publicly expressed her disappointment with the "condemnable political and democratic methods" of Mexico's PVEM.
In Europe, a different way to elect representatives has brought real environmentalists to several legislative branches.
In Belgium, proportional representation allowed the French-environmentalist party Ecolo to win four seats in the May 2003 election to the Chamber of Representatives, while the Flemish-environmentalist Agalev was left out of the Federal Parliament by just 0.5 per cent. This past October, the Green Party of Switzerland took control of 13 seats in the National Council, the best tally outside of the four parties that have traditionally shared administrative duties in the country.
No environmentalist group currently holds more clout than Germany's Greens (Grune). Their agreement with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) after the 1998 federal election—which remains in place today—allowed the Greens to enable a series of policy changes, most notably a provision to gradually phase-out nuclear energy. In 2001, SPD-Grune legislation established a limit of 32 years to the operational lives of Germany's atomic reactors.
In the past several months, Germany's political scene has been dominated by the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU), a fact that could endanger the present governing coalition.
Canadians may face a new federal ballot in the next two years, after the Jun. 28 election ended with a Liberal minority government. The NDP—the party most likely to support the Liberals in the House—is expected to pursue the issue of federal proportional representation. Progress in this matter could allow Canada's Greens to ultimately enter Parliament like their European counterparts.
Next year's provincial election in British Columbia—where the Greens took 6.4 per cent of all federal ballots last Monday—could also be regarded as the first step in capturing an elusive legislative seat. The party enjoyed the backing of 11 per cent of B.C. respondents in a May Ipsos-Reid poll.