Federal Green leader to seek Saanich-Gulf Island seat

[mr.x]

Green leader will seek West Coast seat

Last Updated: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 | 5:08 PM PT
CBC News

One of the worst-kept secrets in Canadian politics has been confirmed — Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May has announced she will be seeking her party's nomination next week in the B.C. riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.

After months of speculation, May announced Tuesday morning she hopes to challenge long-term Conservative MP Gary Lunn for the riding, which includes suburbs north of Victoria and several Gulf Islands.

"I am excited by this challenge," May said in a news release. "Ever since Mr. Lunn fired the head of our nuclear safety commission I have wanted to hold Mr. Lunn to account for that shameful behaviour."

Lunn will likely be a tough opponent for May. He won the riding in 1997 as a Reform Party candidate and has held it through four straight elections. The veteran Conservative cabinet minister's portfolio includes Vancouver's 2010 Olympic Games.

But the riding, which includes several island communities, is also considered to have strong support for Green candidates, who won about 10 per cent of the vote in the past two elections, and nearly 17 per cent of the vote in 2004.

"Saanich-Gulf Islands has a tremendous appetite for change. People here are deeply committed to green values," May said Tuesday as she announced her intentions while standing on the Sidney seashore.

Not a parachute candidate

May already has the support of the former Green candidate for the riding, Andrew Lewis. But to win the nomination she still has to defeat local Green party member Stuart Hertzog, who has already announced he will seek the party's nomination.

May has led the national Green Party of Canada since August 2006, and the announcement comes in spite of her public vows that she would only run in federal campaigns in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova, where she finished second to incumbent Defence Minister Peter MacKay in the last election.

But last month she announced that she would not run in Nova Scotia again, and moved her home to the West Coast riding.

May has said her party has made her election to the House of Commons a priority and insisted that she run in the riding with the best chance of electing a Green MP.

But her campaign manager John Fryer dismissed the notion she's simply a parachute candidate.

"Canada needs Elizabeth May in Parliament and when we surveyed the country we found this riding seems to be the greenest," Fryer said.

http://news.google.ca/news/more?um=1&ned=ca&cf=all&ncl=d8TcHWWFtCiOdoMulLUctr05jxSaM




I think this is great, she has a much higher chance of winning a seat in BC.

Just a thought, perhaps the Greens should think about renaming their party? Their name associates them with pure environmentalism and even hippies when they are so much more, a centrist party.

[osirisboy]

I was thinking the same thing. i always associate them with crazy dirty hippies, a group i would never want to see running my country. they need to hire a good marketing company and redo their image.

[WarrenC12]

I was thinking the same thing. i always associate them with crazy dirty hippies, a group i would never want to see running my country. they need to hire a good marketing company and redo their image.

Agreed. The BC Liberals are/were trying to play the enviro-future-friendly, fiscally conservative party. That's the type of party a lot of people are looking for. The Libs almost had it but things are going off the rails lately. This is territory ripe for the "Greens", IMHO.

[Canadian Mind]

Once word gets out she was against measures to stop the pine beetle before it became a pandemic, I don't think there is going to be much love for the dumb broad.

[whatnext]

Where does this woman even live!? Does she parachute around the country looking for ridings? What does she even know of the local issues?

[hollywoodnorth]

Where does this woman even live!? Does she parachute around the country looking for ridings? What does she even know of the local issues?

nothing nor does she care about local issues.

[vid]

"Canada needs Elizabeth May in Parliament and when we surveyed the country we found this riding seems to be the greenest," Fryer said.

Well, that makes her a parachute candidate. Or did she just coincidentally move there and then "Oh, we just found out this riding supports your party the most!!".

As a Green Party supporter, I think they really have to re-think how they market themselves and support their candidates. They need a better strategy to get into Parliament.

[deasine]

Rebranding of the Greens is necessary since they haven't been achieving better, more promising results. I'm not in support of the Greens, just because I don't know them well enough, but I'm hoping to know more information about them. I don't think I'm alone.

[vid]

It's ironic that you say that, because they're the only party to put their entire party platform in a single, easily accessible document.

http://www.greenparty.ca/files/GPC_Platform_2006.pdf

The document is a bit old but the basics of their platform are relatively unchanged.

[deasine]

The issue is that the aren't marketing well enough.

[usog]

And the conservatives are laughing all the way to Ottawa =P

[mr.x]

The issue is that the aren't marketing well enough.

Unfortunately you need money to make money...in this case, money to make votes. Whatever money they get from each vote and their donors goes towards marketing; for the Greens, i wouldn't count on the latter so all they've got is the first one and they are obviously out of their league when going against the four main parties.

It's not just the amount of marketing, but how they market themselves. The common misconception of the Green party:


http://content.ytmnd.com/content/e/7/7/e77920ec24e170fbb4057c491c180866.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/healing/1/0/g/A/1/ww_gi_hug-tree.jpg

[djmk]

gary lunn has won 4 straight elections. the last one, he won by 43%. furthermore, the C's nationally seem to be polling the same if not slightly better than before.

this is a stupid move by May. she should challenge a backbencher/ rookie or find a riding where the incumbent is retiring.

i think she would have better luck in vancouver quadra

[johnjimbc]

Won by 43%

Using what new math?

Here are the results in the last election

Saanich—
Gulf Islands

Gary Lunn / Conservative 27,988
Briony Penn / Liberal 25,367
Julian West / NDP 3,667
Andrew Lewis / Green 6,732

That hardly seems a landslide.

I know there were some extenuating circumstances, namely that the NDP candidate folded though their name remained on the ballot. So I do think knocking Lunn off is a bit of a challenge.

But that figure just jumped off the page as being wildly off the mark, which it was.

P.S. The Cs haven't matched their election night national poll numbers in months.

[djmk]

Won by 43%

Using what new math?

Here are the results in the last election

Saanich—
Gulf Islands

Gary Lunn / Conservative 27,988
Briony Penn / Liberal 25,367
Julian West / NDP 3,667
Andrew Lewis / Green 6,732

That hardly seems a landslide.

I know there were some extenuating circumstances, namely that the NDP candidate folded though their name remained on the ballot. So I do think knocking Lunn off is a bit of a challenge.

But that figure just jumped off the page as being wildly off the mark, which it was.

P.S. The Cs haven't matched their election night national poll numbers in months.

this new math

27,988 + 25,367 + 3,667 + 6732 = 63,754

27,988 / 63,754 x 100% = 43.89%

maybe i should of used "with" instead of "by"

and CBC news report on the new EKOS poll
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/09/09/ekos-poll.html

[Distill3d]

Okay, so I admit, I voted Green last time around. That said, Elizabeth May is an idiot. She's got the balls, but seriously, don't go after Tories in safe ridings. Last time she went up against Tory superstar Peter McKay and lost. To say the least, I don't expect much from her this time around. If she ran in British Columbia Southern Interior she'd have a fighting chance of winning.

[johnjimbc]

The last I checked 34.2% in the poll is less than the 37.6% the conservatives carried in the last election. I can't recall the last time a poll showed the conservatives reaching the level of support they had in the election last autumn when Harper was offering a steady hand and budget surpluses as far as the eye could see.

For that matter, even the "disappointing" Liberal poll number of 30.8% trounces the 26.2% they received last fall under Dion.

My only point was the conservatives aren't showing better than they did last time around.

Got you on the "with 43%." Key word ;).

[Phil McAvity]

Just a thought, perhaps the Greens should think about renaming their party? Their name associates them with pure environmentalism and even hippies when they are so much more, a centrist party.

"Centrist"? Surely you jest. Do you even know what "centrist" means? This is part of the party platform from their website:

Social Justice

We assert that the key to social justice is the equitable distribution of resources to ensure that all have full opportunities for personal and social development. We assert that the key to social justice is the equitable distribution of social and natural resources, both locally and globally, to meet basic human needs unconditionally, and to ensure that all citizens have full opportunities for personal and social development. We declare that there is no social justice without environmental justice, and no environmental justice without social justice.

http://www.greenparty.ca/en/about-us/green-values/social-justice


Classic Marxism.

It's no wonder so many people think tree-huggers are commies-because they are!

[djmk]

My only point was the conservatives aren't showing better than they did last time around.



by "before", i meant before last week. before Ignatieff went on the war path and showed those ridiculous commercials of himself in the forest.

[johnjimbc]

So in other words you were inaccurate and unclear. Got it now.

Personally, I can only tell a party is really serious when they run ads with cartoonish characters floating across the screen or involve puffin crap.

So, viewed through that warped kaleidoscope, a party leader talking directly to the audience about what he thinks would seem ridiculous.

Cheers ;)

[whatnext]

Voting Green is a waste. A waste that can in some cases hand victory to the Tories, who stand for everything the Greens profess to be against.

[punkster1982]

In 2004, the Greens got 16.7% of the vote, the highest they've ever gotten in a riding. I realize that's now 5 years ago and 3 elections but nonetheless, it shows the potential that exists there.

[hollywoodnorth]

Voting Green is a waste. A waste that can in some cases hand victory to the Tories, who stand for everything the Greens profess to be against.

hear hear! :cheers:

[s211]

......the Tories, who stand for everything the Greens profess to be against.

Right. Nice sweeping statement there. Someday you'll learn to drop the "everything" label. No different than someone saying Greens are all smelly hippies.

[whatnext]

Right. Nice sweeping statement there. Someday you'll learn to drop the "everything" label. No different than someone saying Greens are all smelly hippies.

Care to enlighten us about major policy points the Greens and Tories share?

What little respect I had for folks who waste their vote on the Greens came last Federal election. If they were serious about environmental issues they would have voted Liberal with Dion and his Green Shift, the only realistic chance they had of true environmental action. Instead they voted for the hapless May, and true, serious, environmental reform will be seen as political poison for decades.