Opinion Pieces
Should you vote for the Green Party?
In 1983, in a conference room at Carleton University, a group of delegates founded the Green Party of Canada. With their leader, Dr. Trevor Hancock, the Green Party ran 60 candidates in the 1984 election. In 2004, the Green Party ran candidates in every riding across Canada, and received 4.3 percent of national support. In 2011, current leader Elizabeth May won the first ever Green seat in the House of Commons. Since then, she has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Harper government, voicing her opinions on pipelines, democratic reform, security and defense, among others, in any manner possible, be that electoral debates, in the House of Commons, through emails, open letters and speeches, or social media, as she showed on Thursday night, when she responded to an economic debate using Twitter. The Green Party has grown a lot in its three decades of existence. But should you vote for the Green Party?
This is not an article debating whether or not you should support the values of the Green Party (Listed on their website as Non Violence, Sustainability, Social Justice, Ecological Wisdom, Participatory Democracy, and Respect for Diversity. Find out more at http://www.greenparty.ca/en). This is an article considering whether a vote for the Green Party is more than a spoiled ballot.
Of course, in some areas of the country, a Green vote is obviously a vote that counts. One such example is Vancouver Island, where Ms. May was elected. All across the island, Liberals and Conservatives are falling behind while the NDP struggles to maintain leads. Who could have predicted that?
Unfortunately, we don’t live in beautiful BC, where the snow rarely smothers anything but the pristine mountain tops. We live in Simcoe County, and more specifically, in one of two new ridings. Barrie - Innisfil, where the Conservatives are leading with 49.1%* of the vote, covers the southern half of Barrie, and the township of Innisfil. The second new riding, Barrie - Springwater - Oro-Medonte, covers the northern half of Barrie, and several other aforementioned townships. The Conservatives are also leading there, with 40.9%. Second place is currently held by the Liberals (25.6%), and the NDP is polling at 21.6% of decided voters. Your attentive eyes may have noticed that not once were the Greens mentioned in this paragraph. Oh, wait, now they have been.
The Green Party has 9.8% support in the south Barrie area riding, where they are represented by Bonnie North, and 11.3% in the north, where Marty Lancaster is running. This situation of last names not matching areas represented can be quite confusing. However, when these numbers are taken into consideration, it’s an impressive percentage for the Greens. The national average support for the Greens is hovering around 5%. The Greens in the north have 1/4th the support that the Conservatives have, while those in Barrie-Innisfil are still at an impressive 1/5th. But all the fractions in the world can’t change the outcome of this election. No, those are only good for changing the outcome of math tests.
The Barrie Greens are not in first place, and one vote won’t change that. If a large swath of voters swung to the Greens, then perhaps another look would be in order. Most potential Green voters want change now, and see either the NDP or Liberals as a better ship to sail on. For Barrie’s Greens, it will probably be a “Maybe Next Time” election. (One move that could help the Greens considerably would be the introduction of Proportional Representation. This means that voting for a party willing to reform our current electoral system is one of the best ways to help the future of the Greens. For more on Proportional Representation, see the totally reliable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation).
So the Greens probably won’t win any seats in Simcoe County. That doesn’t mean one shouldn’t vote for them. While the Green Party may not stand a good chance at forming the government this election, Elizabeth May has proven that her party should be respected as a valid choice for Canadians. I would argue that the Greens do not need to form government to influence it. Elizabeth May’s voice is strong and persistent, even outside of leader’s debates. She stands for and represents our democracy, and we should all respect her for that reason alone.
-By Brendan Sheppard
*All polling numbers are taken from http://www.threehundredeight.com
In 1983, in a conference room at Carleton University, a group of delegates founded the Green Party of Canada. With their leader, Dr. Trevor Hancock, the Green Party ran 60 candidates in the 1984 election. In 2004, the Green Party ran candidates in every riding across Canada, and received 4.3 percent of national support. In 2011, current leader Elizabeth May won the first ever Green seat in the House of Commons. Since then, she has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Harper government, voicing her opinions on pipelines, democratic reform, security and defense, among others, in any manner possible, be that electoral debates, in the House of Commons, through emails, open letters and speeches, or social media, as she showed on Thursday night, when she responded to an economic debate using Twitter. The Green Party has grown a lot in its three decades of existence. But should you vote for the Green Party?
This is not an article debating whether or not you should support the values of the Green Party (Listed on their website as Non Violence, Sustainability, Social Justice, Ecological Wisdom, Participatory Democracy, and Respect for Diversity. Find out more at http://www.greenparty.ca/en). This is an article considering whether a vote for the Green Party is more than a spoiled ballot.
Of course, in some areas of the country, a Green vote is obviously a vote that counts. One such example is Vancouver Island, where Ms. May was elected. All across the island, Liberals and Conservatives are falling behind while the NDP struggles to maintain leads. Who could have predicted that?
Unfortunately, we don’t live in beautiful BC, where the snow rarely smothers anything but the pristine mountain tops. We live in Simcoe County, and more specifically, in one of two new ridings. Barrie - Innisfil, where the Conservatives are leading with 49.1%* of the vote, covers the southern half of Barrie, and the township of Innisfil. The second new riding, Barrie - Springwater - Oro-Medonte, covers the northern half of Barrie, and several other aforementioned townships. The Conservatives are also leading there, with 40.9%. Second place is currently held by the Liberals (25.6%), and the NDP is polling at 21.6% of decided voters. Your attentive eyes may have noticed that not once were the Greens mentioned in this paragraph. Oh, wait, now they have been.
The Green Party has 9.8% support in the south Barrie area riding, where they are represented by Bonnie North, and 11.3% in the north, where Marty Lancaster is running. This situation of last names not matching areas represented can be quite confusing. However, when these numbers are taken into consideration, it’s an impressive percentage for the Greens. The national average support for the Greens is hovering around 5%. The Greens in the north have 1/4th the support that the Conservatives have, while those in Barrie-Innisfil are still at an impressive 1/5th. But all the fractions in the world can’t change the outcome of this election. No, those are only good for changing the outcome of math tests.
The Barrie Greens are not in first place, and one vote won’t change that. If a large swath of voters swung to the Greens, then perhaps another look would be in order. Most potential Green voters want change now, and see either the NDP or Liberals as a better ship to sail on. For Barrie’s Greens, it will probably be a “Maybe Next Time” election. (One move that could help the Greens considerably would be the introduction of Proportional Representation. This means that voting for a party willing to reform our current electoral system is one of the best ways to help the future of the Greens. For more on Proportional Representation, see the totally reliable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation).
So the Greens probably won’t win any seats in Simcoe County. That doesn’t mean one shouldn’t vote for them. While the Green Party may not stand a good chance at forming the government this election, Elizabeth May has proven that her party should be respected as a valid choice for Canadians. I would argue that the Greens do not need to form government to influence it. Elizabeth May’s voice is strong and persistent, even outside of leader’s debates. She stands for and represents our democracy, and we should all respect her for that reason alone.
-By Brendan Sheppard
*All polling numbers are taken from http://www.threehundredeight.com