Get it together

With popularity comes scrutiny. And for Elizabeth May and the Green Party, that’s becoming increasingly uncomfortable as they edge ahead of the NDP in many opinion polls.

What are we to make, for example, of the conflicting and confusing statements on national unity coming out of the Greens this week?

Pierre Nantel, an MP who’s running for the Greens near Montreal, told a radio interviewer he would vote to separate if there was another sovereignty referendum in Quebec. “Let’s separate as fast as possible,” he said. “But as long as we are here, let’s defend Quebec in the Canadian context.”

Instead of, at the very least, distancing the Greens from his remarks, a party spokesperson said flatly that the unity of Canada “is not one of the party’s core values.” She went on to say that “individual MPs are allowed to express their own opinions on this matter,” and “candidates who support the (separatist) movement are not screened out by our vetting process.”

A day later, May herself was backpedalling, insisting “there is no way that a Green Party MP would vote for separation” and vowing her party will “fight for Canada.” All this is incoherent at best. Of course, a party that aspires to govern should consider the integrity of the country a “core value.”

If the Greens want to be taken seriously, as more than a niche party, they need to get their act together on such a fundamental point.

May backpedalled, insisting ‘there is no way that a Green Party MP would vote for separation’