A good time to be green
For many Liberal and Progressive Conservative supporters, politics in Prince Edward Island is a life-long, blood sport. The two parties have held an iron grip on power since Confederation — depending on family traditions, party loyalties and patronage to maintain their privileged status.
Can anything or anyone break that vise? The NDP thought they had a breakthrough by electing party leader Dr. Herb Dickieson in 1996. He won largely on a single issue — the future of the O’Leary Community Hospital — and lost to the PCs in the next election.
Then along comes Peter Bevan-Baker. The leader of the Green Party of P.E.I. won the first seat for the party against Liberal incumbent Valerie Docherty. The huge margin of victory over the cabinet minister was a shocker — he won by more than 1,000 votes.
Mr. Bevan-Baker’s personal popularity and political star have continued to rise, thanks to strong performances in the legislature. He was helped by the lack of a full-time leader for the Tories, the Liberals failure to get past lingering PNP and e-gaming issues and an under-achieving performance by Premier Wade MacLauchlan.
After inching closer to Mr. MacLauchlan in polls last year, Mr. Bevan-Baker overtook the premier in terms of leader preference in February — 34 to 29 per cent. Then last week, the latest CRA poll had Mr. Bevan-Baker at 37 per cent while Mr. MacLauchlan slumped to 24.
The good news came just in time for the Green Party’s convention on the weekend. There was a statistic in last week’s poll, which should concern the Greens. While its leader is hitting record high numbers, he has left the party behind. The Greens stayed at 26 per cent and are now in a tie with the PCs who are sure to rebound following their leadership convention in October.
Can Mr. Bevan-Baker pull the party up with him? If not, he runs the risk of being a one-person party. That scenario galvanized the party’s weekend conference into action — how to convince Islanders, who admire the leader, into also supporting the Greens? It must engage youth, create district associations, enhance its nomination process and grow the grassroots.
Party machinery is so important in getting out the vote on P.E.I. Huge advance polls kept the Liberals in power in 2015. The Greens have limited constituency organizations, low party memberships and few donors.
It’s one thing to prefer the Green leader in a mid-term poll, where voters are apt to park their votes elsewhere. The challenge is to convince those supporters to stay with the party; and for the Greens to convince credible candidates to come forward.
If the Greens can add several members to join their leader in the legislature, they will be in a position to hold the balance of power and advance party policies.
The theme of the Green’s 2015 election platform was restoring trust and integrity in government. Those goals remain a solid foundation for the Greens to position themselves as a credible alternative in 2019.