Green Party of Canada

The Green Party of Canada (French: Parti vert du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada that was founded in 1983 focused on green politics. Since 3 October 2020, the party has been led by Annamie Paul.[3] The party's parliamentary leader is Elizabeth May, who previously served as party leader from 2006 to 2019.[4]

Green Party of Canada Parti vert du Canada
Leader	Annamie Paul
Parliamentary Leader	Elizabeth May
President	Liana Canton Cusmano (interim)
Founded	1983
Headquarters	116 Albert Street Suite 812 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G3
Youth wing	Young Greens of Canada
Ideology	Green politics
Continental affiliation	Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas[1]
International affiliation	Global Greens[2]
Colours	Green
Seats in the Senate	0 / 105
Seats in the House of Commons	3 / 338
Website
greenparty.ca
Politics of Canada Political parties Elections

The Green Party is currently the fifth party in the House of Commons. The party elected its first Member of Parliament (MP), then-leader Elizabeth May, in the 2011 election. In the 2019 election, the party expanded its caucus to three. The Green Party is currently the only federal party with representation in the House of Commons whose leader is not an MP.

History

About two months before the 1980 federal election, eleven candidates, mostly from ridings in the Atlantic provinces, issued a joint press release declaring that they were running on a common platform. It called for a transition to a non-nuclear, conserver society. Although they ran as independents, they unofficially used the name "Small Party" as part of their declaration of unity, a reference to the "small is beautiful" philosophy of E. F. Schumacher. This was the most substantial early attempt to answer the call for an ecologically oriented Canadian political party. A key organizer (and one of the candidates) was Elizabeth May, who was the leader of the Greens from 2006 to 2019.

The Green Party of Canada was founded at a conference held at Carleton University in Ottawa in 1983. Under its first leader, Trevor Hancock, the party ran 60 candidates in the 1984 Canadian federal election.[5]

The Quebec wing hosted the 1990 Canadian Greens conference in Montreal. But soon after that, Canada's constitutional problems interfered, and many Quebec candidates abandoned the Greens in favour of a Quebec sovereigntist party, the Bloc Québécois. There were only six Green candidates from Quebec in the 1993 election. In the spring of 1996, although the hopes of electing a representative to the BC legislature proved premature, Andy Shadrack in the interior of the province received over 11% of the vote. Overall, the party's proportion of the popular vote surged to a new high. Shadrack was also the most popular Green candidate in the 1997 federal election, scoring over 6% of the popular vote in West Kootenay-Okanagan.

Joan Russow years

British Columbia's Joan Russow became leader of the Green Party of Canada on 13 April 1997.[6][7] Russow won 52% of the ballots cast in the 1997 leadership race, surpassing Ontario's Jim Harris (39%) and Rachelle Small (8%). Immediately upon attaining the leadership, Russow was plunged into a federal general election.[7] Russow's campaign in 1997 set a number of important precedents. The 1997 federal election was the first campaign in which the Greens conducted a national leader's tour, presented a national platform and a bilingual campaign. Previous campaigns, due in part to the party's few resources and, in part, to the party's constitutional straitjacket, had been characterized by policy and spokespeople operating, at best, province-by-province and, at worst, riding-by-riding. In her own riding of Victoria, Russow received just shy of 3000 votes and 6% of the popular vote.

In 1998, the party adopted a rule that forbids membership in any other federal political party. This was intended to prevent the party from being taken over. A small number of Greens who advocate the more cooperative approach to legislation objected to the rule not to hold cross-memberships, a tool they occasionally employed.

Since its inception, the party has been developing as an organization, expanding its membership and improving its showing at the polls. In the 2000 federal election, the party fielded 111 candidates, up from 78 in 1997.

Candidates were not run in Newfoundland and Labrador, as a result of ongoing divisions over Joan Russow's refusal to endorse the Green candidate in an earlier St. John's West by-election. (The candidate in question supported the seal hunt and mining development, as most locals did.)[8] This caused much uncertainty and friction between Newfoundland's Terra Nova Green Party[8] Association and the Green Party leader as the party gradually adapted to the realities of functioning as a true national party rather than a disorganized federation of local activists.

The conflicts left Russow isolated and alienated from most members of the party. Volunteer efforts were substantially absorbed in provincial campaigns between 2001 and 2003, and the federal party became dormant between elections, as was typical in the past. Chris Bradshaw served the party as interim leader from 2001 to February 2003. During his term, the party ended its sharing of office and staff with the Ontario party, establishing its own office in the national capital of Ottawa.

Russow left the party in 2001 and has now criticized the Green party for not following their policies. She re-joined the party in 2020 to support Dimiti Lascaris' campaign for the Green Party leadership.[9]

Breakthrough under Jim Harris

Jim Harris, Leader of the party from 2003 to 2006

In February 2003, Jim Harris, in his second bid for the leadership, defeated John Grogan of Valemount, British Columbia, and Jason Crummey. Crummey was originally from Newfoundland and involved with Newfoundland and Labrador Terra Nova Greens.

During the 2004 federal election the Green Party of Canada became the fourth federal political party ever to run candidates in all the ridings. When the ballots were counted, the Green Party secured 4.3 percent of the popular vote, thereby surpassing the 2 percent threshold required for party financing under new Elections Canada rules.[10]

Momentum continued to build around the Green Party of Canada and in the 2006 federal election the Green Party again ran 308 candidates and increased its share of the popular vote to 4.5 percent, once again securing federal financing as a result.

The party's 2006 election campaign was disrupted by allegations made by Matthew Pollesell, the party's former assistant national organizer, that Harris had not filed a proper accounting of money spent during his 2004 leadership campaign, as required by law. Pollesell issued a request that Elections Canada investigate. Pollesell and another former party member, Gretchen Schwarz, were subsequently warned by the party's legal counsel to retract allegations they had made or face a possible legal action. Dana Miller, who served in the party's shadow cabinet with responsibility for human-rights issues, made public her earlier complaints that the party has violated election law and its own constitution and has also asked for an Elections Canada investigation. Miller had been expelled from the party after filing a complaint within the party in April.[11]

Arrival of Elizabeth May

Elizabeth May, July 2014

A leadership vote was held at the party's August 2006 convention. On 24 April 2006, Jim Harris announced his intention not to stand for re-election as party leader.[12] Three candidates officially entered the leadership race: David Chernushenko, Elizabeth May, and Jim Fannon. May won the leadership with 65% of the vote on the first ballot.

On 22 October 2006, Elizabeth May announced she would run in the federal by-election to be held on 27 November 2006, in London North Centre, Ontario. She finished second behind the Liberal candidate but garnered 26% of the popular vote.

Even though they had never held a seat yet, Elizabeth May's Green Party began to receive more mainstream media attention on other party policy not directly related to the environment – for example, supporting labour rights[13] and poppy legalization in Afghanistan.[14]

On 30 August 2008, Vancouver area MP Blair Wilson became the first-ever Green Member of Parliament, after sitting for nearly a year of the 39th Canadian Parliament as an Independent. He had been a Liberal MP, but stepped down voluntarily from the caucus earlier in the parliament after anonymous allegations of campaign finance irregularities, most of which he was later cleared after a 9-month investigation by Elections Canada.[15] Wilson had joined the Green Party during Parliament's summer recess and never sat in the House of Commons as a Green MP.

After initial opposition from three of the four major political parties, May was invited to the leaders' debates, a first for the party.[16] In the 2008 federal election, the party increased its share of the popular vote by 2.33% (to 6.80%), being the only federally funded party to increase its total vote tally over 2006, attracting nearly 280,000 new votes. However, the party failed to elect a candidate. Some prominent Green Party members blamed the public discussion of strategic voting and the media's misrepresentation of May's comments during the election campaign for the failure of some promising candidates to reach Election Canada's 10% reimbursement threshold, as well as reducing the party's federal funding based on popular vote.

On 11 August 2010, 74% of Green party members voted to hold a leadership review after the next election, instead of in August 2010, which was when May's four-year term as leader was set to end.[17]

Greens in Parliament

On 2 May 2011, Green Party leader Elizabeth May became the first elected Green Party MP to sit in the House of Commons. She won the riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands in coastal British Columbia.[18] In winning her seat, May also became one of the few Greens worldwide to be elected in a federal, single-seat election.[2] On 13 December 2013, Thunder Bay—Superior North MP Bruce Hyer, who had left the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 2012 to sit as an independent after breaking party lines to vote in favour of a repeal of the Long Gun Registry, joined the party, resulting in a record two-member caucus in parliament.[19]

Results of the 2015 Canadian federal election showing support for Green candidates by riding

In August 2014, President elect Paul Estrin published a blog post on the Green Party's website criticizing the actions of Hamas during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. In his article, "Why Gaza Makes Me Sad", Estrin talked about Hamas' "desire to obliterate" the State of Israel and how the terrorist group uses children as human shields.[20] Estrin's blog post was subsequently deleted by the party, with many party seniors and decision makers, including Elizabeth May, distancing themselves from Estrin, with a large majority of the party calling on him to resign. On 5 August, Estrin resigned, criticizing the party for betraying their commitment to values of inclusivity and open public discourse.[21] Elizabeth May accepted the resignation of Estrin, stating that he was not forced to resign but did so of his own volition. May has said that the problem with his statements were the "confusion" they caused because they differed from party lines, but confirmed that Estrin was indeed a "true Green".[22]

In the lead up to the federal election on 19 October 2015, José Núñez-Melo joined the Green Party. Núñez-Melo, first elected in 2011 as a New Democrat in the riding of Laval, was barred by the NDP from seeking re-nomination after he publicly criticized the nomination process; after the dropping of the writ, Núñez-Melo announced he would run for re-election in Vimy as a Green Party candidate.[23] As Parliament was dissolved for the election at the time of Núñez-Melo's change in affiliation, he was never formally recorded as a Green MP. Ultimately, May was re-elected in the riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands while both Hyer and Núñez-Melo were defeated, leaving May as the only member in the House.[24]

On 6 May 2019, Paul Manly became the second MP elected under the party's banner, after winning a by-election in Nanaimo—Ladysmith.[25][26][27] In 19 August 2019, a former NDP and briefly Independent MP Pierre Nantel joined the Green Party during the Parliament's summer recess.[28][29]

During the 2019 federal election, both May and Manly were re-elected while Jenica Atwin was elected in her New Brunswick riding of Fredericton, making her the third elected Green MP in the federal parliament, and the first Green MP outside of British Columbia.[30][31][32]

On 4 November 2019, May announced she would be stepping down as leader of the Green Party of Canada.[33] May will continue to act as Parliamentary Leader and sit as a Green member of Parliament. The decision to step down came as a promise to May's daughter.[34] A leadership election was held on 3 October 2020, and Toronto-based lawyer and activist Annamie Paul was elected to succeed Elizabeth May as Green Party leader.[35][36]

Paul ran in the 2020 Toronto Centre federal by-election, where she placed second.[37]

Principles and policies

The Greens have always had leftist and centrist factions that have been ascendant at different times in the party's history. Many Greens also claim that the traditional left–right political spectrum does not accurately capture the ecological orientation of the Green Party that is neither pragmatic or principled.[38]

Following Elizabeth May stepping down as party leader, eight candidates faced off in the subsequent 2020 Green Party of Canada leadership election. The large divide of the race was between centrist policies and a move to shift the party to the left with an eco-socialist agenda.[39]

Principles

The Green Party of Canada is founded on six key principles that were adopted at the 2002 convention of the Global Greens.[40] These principles are:

• ecological wisdom
• non-violence
• social justice
• sustainability
• participatory democracy
• respect for diversity

Membership exclusions

During the 2019 election campaign, the Green Party dropped the nomination of Marthe Lépine as Green candidate in Glengarry—Prescott—Russell because she held "pro-life" beliefs. John Chenery, director of communications for the party, stated that “the Green Party will always fight for access to timely, safe, legal abortions”. Lépine's name remained on the ballot as the candidate filing deadline passed when she was dropped.[41]

Leadership

In March 2018, then-Green party Leader Elizabeth May appointed journalist and broadcaster Jo-Ann Roberts as a deputy leader along with environmentalist Daniel Green of Montreal. Roberts ran as Green party candidate in a Victoria, B.C. riding during the 2015 federal election and finished second.[42]

On 4 November 2019, Green party Leader Elizabeth May announced that effective that day, she would be stepping down as leader of the Party but remaining leader of the Parliamentary caucus, with deputy leader Jo-Ann Roberts assuming an interim leadership role.[43] The Green Party had a leadership election in October 2020 to determine her successor.

Party leaders

Source:[44]

#	Leader	Term start	Term end
1	Trevor Hancock	1983	1984
2	Seymour Trieger	1984	1988
3	Kathryn Cholette	1988	1990
4	Chris Lea	1990	1996
5	Wendy Priesnitz	1996	1997
*	Harry Garfinkle (interim)	1997	1997
6	Joan Russow	1997	2001
*	Chris Bradshaw (interim)	2001	2003
7	Jim Harris	2003	2006
8	Elizabeth May	2006	2019
*	Jo-Ann Roberts (interim)	2019	2020
9	Annamie Paul	2020	present

Party parliamentary leaders

• Elizabeth May (2019–present)[45]

Election results

Election	Leader	Seats won	+/-	Votes	%	Rank	Status/Gov.
1984	Trevor Hancock	0 / 282		26,921	0.21%	7th	Extra-parliamentary
1988	Seymour Trieger	0 / 295		47,228	0.36%	7th	Extra-parliamentary
1993	Chris Lea	0 / 295		32,979	0.24%	10th	Extra-parliamentary
1997	Joan Russow	0 / 301		55,583	0.43%	6th	Extra-parliamentary
2000		0 / 301		104,402	0.81%	6th	Extra-parliamentary
2004	Jim Harris	0 / 308		582,247	4.32%	5th	Extra-parliamentary
2006		0 / 308		665,940	4.48%	5th	Extra-parliamentary
2008	Elizabeth May	0 / 308		941,097	6.80%	5th	Extra-parliamentary
2011		1 / 308	1	576,221	3.91%	5th	No status
2015		1 / 338		605,637	3.45%	5th	No status
2019		3 / 338	2	1,189,607	6.55%	5th	No status

Source: History of Federal elections since 1867

Provincial and territorial parties

Nine provinces and one territory have an active Green party. While these parties and the Green Party of Canada share values and often supporters, they operate as independent entities and do not have common membership.

Currently, fourteen Green legislators sit in provincial legislative assemblies, including eight in Prince Edward Island, two in British Columbia and New Brunswick, and one in Ontario. The Greens in Prince Edward Island are the first Green party to form the official opposition in any provincial assembly.

The only province without a green party is Newfoundland and Labrador. An association called the Terra Nova Greens, created in 1996, was previously the Green Party of Canada's "Official Unit" for the province.[46] TNG was never a registered party, but fielded independent candidates in three provincial general elections. They remained the federal party's "Official Unit" until 2007, but most supporters cut ties to the national party in 2006 (or earlier) over its opposition to the traditional Newfoundland seal hunt. As of 2014, there are ongoing efforts to establish a provincial green party in Newfoundland and Labrador.[47]

Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have legislatures that use non-partisan consensus government. As such, there are no registered green parties (or any other parties) in these territories.

Current seat counts and leaders of provincial and territorial parties

Party	Seats / Total	Role in legislature	Last election	Leader
Green Party of Alberta	0 / 87	No presence	2019	Jordan Wilkie
Green Party of British Columbia	2 / 87	No status	2020	Sonia Furstenau
Green Party of Manitoba	0 / 57	No presence	2019	James Beddome
Green Party of New Brunswick	3 / 49	No status	2020	David Coon
Nova Scotia Green Party	0 / 51	No presence	2017	Thomas Trappenberg
Green Party of Ontario	1 / 124	No status	2018	Mike Schreiner
Green Party of Quebec	0 / 125	No presence	2018	Alex Tyrrell
Green Party of Prince Edward Island	8 / 27	Official Opposition	2019	Peter Bevan-Baker
Saskatchewan Green Party	0 / 61	No presence	2016	Naomi Hunter
Yukon Green Party	0 / 19	No presence	2016	Frank de Jong

See also

• Green Party of Canada leadership elections

References

1. "Federación de Partidos Verdes de las Américas". Fpva.org.mx. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
2. Global Greens: Greens Elected in Federal Single Seat Elections
3. Tasker, John Paul (3 October 2020). "Toronto lawyer Annamie Paul elected leader of the federal Green Party". CBC. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
4. Abedi, Maham. "Elizabeth May steps down as leader of Green Party". Global News. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
5. "History | Green Party of Canada". Ottawa: Green Party of Canada. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
6. "Globe and Mail Election 2000". Archived from the original on 6 December 2004.
7. "Affidavit of Joan Russow" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
8. Archived 19 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
9. "Former Green Party Leader Dr. Joan Russow Endorses Dimitri". Team Dimitri. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
10. "Financial summary", Elections Canada website
11. "globeandmail.com".
12. "Harris to give up on Green leadership," The Globe and Mail, 24 April 2006.
13. "Labour Rights are Human Rights". Greenparty.ca. 3 September 2007. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
14. "Legalize and commercialize the Afghan poppy crop, says May". Greenparty.ca. 29 August 2007. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
15. "Green party announces its first member of Parliament". CBC News. 30 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
16. "Greens win spot in TV election debates". Reuters. 10 September 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
17. "Green Party delays leadership vote". CBC News. 11 August 2010.
18. "Elizabeth May wins first seat for Greens". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 3 May 2011. Archived from the original on 7 May 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
19. "Thunder Bay MP Bruce Hyer joins Green Party, doubles caucus". CBC News. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
20. Katrina Clarke (6 August 2014). "Green Party president quits after facing backlash over pro-Israel blog post". National Post.
21. "Why I'm no longer president of the Green Party of Canada - The Canadian Jewish News". cjnews.com. 11 August 2014.
22. "Controversial ex-president of Green Party should have role in party future, says May". The Globe and Mail.
23. "Former NDP MP Jose Nunez-Melo to run for Greens in Quebec | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
24. "Greens a party of 1 as vote-splitting fears hurt hopes for growth | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
25. Little, Samon; Zussman, Richard (6 May 2019). "Greens claim historic 2nd federal seat with upset byelection win in Nanaimo-Ladysmith". Global News. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
26. "Federal Green Party wins seat in byelection upset". 660 News. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
27. Singh, Varinder (6 May 2019). "Green Party win in by-election sets alarm bells ringing for Jagmeet Singh, Trudeau". The Tribune. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
28. Gilmore, Rachel (19 August 2019). "Former NDP MP Pierre Nantel joins the Green Party". CTV news. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
29. CBC News (19 August 2019). "May confirms ex-New Democrat Pierre Nantel is running as a Green candidate". CBC News. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
30. "Canada election results: Fredericton". Global News. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
31. "Jenica Atwin wins Fredericton federal race in historic campaign". 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
32. "Jenica Atwin captures historic win for the Greens in New Brunswick campaign". 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
33. "Elizabeth May steps down as Green Party leader | CTV News". 5 November 2019. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019.
34. "Elizabeth May steps down as Green Party leader". CBC. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
35. Patel, Raisa (9 November 2019). "Interim Green Party leader hoping to court Wilson-Raybould for top job". CBC News. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
36. "Green Leadership Vote 2020 / Vote pour la chefferie du Parti vert 2020". Youtube. 3 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
37. "Federal Liberals projected to hold onto Toronto Centre in byelection". CBC News. 26 October 2020. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
38. Martin, Chip. Left, right support Green London Free Press
39. Zimonjic, Peter (23 June 2020). "Green Party leadership candidates spar over carbon pricing, defunding police in second debate". CBC News.
40. "Values". greenparty.ca.
41. "Green Party candidate dumped over pro-life views". Grandin Media. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
42. "Green party names veteran journalist Jo-Ann Roberts as deputy leader" – via The Globe and Mail.
43. "Elizabeth May steps down as Green Party leader". CBC News. 4 November 2019.
44. "Green Party of Canada". Ottawa: Parliament of Canada. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
45. "Elizabeth May steps down as Green Party leader". Ottawa: CTV News. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
46. "Terra Nova Green Party". Rantandroar.ca. Archived from the original on 21 September 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
47. "Trying to resurrect the Green Party". The Telegram. 18 February 2014. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2014.

External links

• Green Party of Canada
• Young Greens of Canada
• Green Party of Canada's channel on YouTube
• Green Party of Canada at The Canadian Encyclopedia
• Green Party of Canada - Canadian Political Parties and Political Interest Groups - Web Archive created by the University of Toronto Libraries