The year the Green party has waited for
With climate change on people’s minds, May seeks to rally more voters
VICTORIA— Fixed on a bench in the lobby of the Delta hotel in downtown Victoria, Elizabeth May doesn’t seem concerned with the dozens of supporters and media buzzing around the room. Rather than the common practice of a leader staying out of sight before a campaign kickoff speech, May is sitting in plain view, headphones in, using her laptop to watch her political rivals give their own speeches. Earlier, she had taken to the stage to tell supporters what to expect at the event.
An organizer approaches May and she perks up, “Are all the supporters in the room?” After a nod from a campaign staffer, May gathers a collection of Green candidates into a circle for a quick prayer and takes a sip of water. “Breathe everyone,” she says. The Green party says this is the year for which it’s been waiting. National polls show the party in a neck-and-neck race with the New Democrats and the party has raised more money in the last quarter than the NDP.
As a climate emergency has become a common topic on the nightly news, the Green candidates in this room say they have been hearing more on the doorsteps that climate is the number one issue for voters. The Oct. 21 vote is the most important in history, May told Star Vancouver on Tuesday, as it’s the last one where Canadians can make a difference on climate change.
Many in the room have grey hair, there are some canes, too, but they zip around like 20-year-old political volunteers with big smiles, mixing with other supporters, including those who are actually in their 20s.
“Are we ready?” May says as she starts to clap her hands. “Three-two-one …” she counts down, leading her supporters into a booming sea of Green supporters cheering.
Fossil fuels need to be drastically cut to get the climate back on track. Regular political parties aren’t doing enough to make it happen.
“Our pledge as adults is that we will never abandon our children,” May says. “We are going to stand firm. This election is about telling the truth to Canadians about how serious the climate emergency is.”
She pointed to the House of Commons passing a motion declaring a climate emergency in June before the federal government announced it was approving the embattled Trans Mountain Pipeline project in British Columbia the next day. Boos erupt.
Rather than fossil fuels, she says, the country can boost the economy and create jobs through green energy retrofits and expansion of sustainable energy.
Canada needs to get off foreign oil right away which also helps the human rights cause, she says, issuing a rebuke of Maritime energy company Irving Oil.
“I won’t mind one bit telling Mr. Irving he can’t buy Saudi oil anymore for the Saint John, N.B., refinery and we’ll find him a source from Hibernia instead.”
But the party also says it’s about helping Canadians improve their lives, including plans to support a guaranteed income and curbing corporate influence in Canada.
May reminds supporters Justin Trudeau broke his pledge on electoral reform. The party’s plan is being costed by the Parliamentary Budget Officer in Ottawa, a move the Greens hope will show Canadians the party has the fiscal chops to meet party goals.
The Greens’ pitch to voters is to abandon political partisanship, which May says has prevented real action on climate change for decades.
“It’s time for every so-called leader of every party to join us and accept the targets driven by science, not by politics,” she says. “Nothing matters more than ensuring our children and grandchildren can live out their natural lifetimes in this beautiful country with a civilization that supports us.”
But the popularity of the party has also come with the challenges popular parties face. The Greens have had three PR challenges in recent weeks, including on Tuesday when Quebec MP Pierre Nantel told a French radio station he would vote for Quebec to leave Canada if another referendum were held. Nantel is a former NDP MP who was ejected when it was discovered he had met with May over the summer.
May told reporters in Victoria she knows Nantel to be “a strong Quebecer within the context of Canada” and will be meeting with him to discuss the comments, adding she will not have a candidate working to break up Canada on the Green team.
The party has also faced backlash over comments May made to the CBC that she couldn’t stop her members from raising questions on abortion in Canada. On stage in Victoria on Wednesday morning, she put her hand over her heart and affirmed the Green party believes in a woman’s right to legal abortion.
Much of the Greens’ success is due to supporters of other parties losing their partisan faith, candidate David Merner told Star Vancouver prior to the speech. He estimated about 35 per cent of those at Wednesday’s launch party are former NDP members and on stage asked former New Democrats to raise there hands. Many did.
But May said this election for the Greens isn’t about sticking it to other parties.
“I don’t think in terms of rivals,” she said. “I think in terms of reaching Canadian citizens as my allies.”