Pie Palace

Today is the “you should really send in your ballot” date for the Green Party national convention.¹ It shouldn’t be any surprise how I will be voting. But I’ll let you in on my decision making process anyway.

There are three candidate for leader: David Chernushenko, Elizabeth May, and Jim Fannon. Both David and Elizabeth are extremely strong candidates, while, in my mind, Jim is hamstrung by his unilingualism.

I will be voting for David for a number of reasons:

• He attracts a broad variety of people to the party. I ran a focus group during the Ottawa Centre debate, and all four of my attendees said the would vote for him. During the past few federal elections, I’ve volunteered with him during the campaigns. At the all candidates debates I’ve been consistently impressed with the number of people who say “if he wasn’t running for the Greens, I would vote for him.” When I went to the Ottawa-Centre AGM, almost everyone who stood up to speak started by saying “I’m here because of David” – these are people who would have otherwise written us off as a fringe party filled with fundamentalists. He can talk to people outside of our core demographic. I haven’t seen any other Green who can attract non-environmentalists in that way.
  
• He is capable of compromise. When I worked with David during the federal elections, problems would periodically come up, either with volunteers or the other candidates. David was able to find solutions to each problem that were acceptable to everyone involved, kept with the Party’s principles, and left everyone involved happy.
  
• I agree with his vision for the Party. In my experience, the Green Party can be somewhat disorganized. Many of our core volunteers are political neophytes, and are new to the world of volunteerism. David’s emphasis on making the party more professional speaks to that. When I spoke with David after the last election, we chatted briefly about what we would need to win the next election. We agreed that the Party needs to provide a better volunteer experience and more opportunities for members to get involved. His vision for a strong party is built on strong EDAs that get people involved at a local level. In my books, that’s where we need to be.
  
• He acts like a statesman. I want to vote for someone who treats their opponents with dignity, and is able to disagree with an idea without taking shots at the idea’s proponents. David lives up to that.

Since the ballot is preferential, my second choice will be Elizabeth. Considering how she has been hyped, I went into the Ottawa Centre debate expecting to be inspired by her oratory ability and fresh ideas. She spoke well, but no better than David or Jim. The ideas that she espoused (improving diversity within the Party through anti-oppression training; bringing religion into state functions; limiting Canada’s military role in Afghanistan to taking weapons from warlords) were neither interesting nor inspiring.

My ideal Green Party line-up would see David as leader, Elizabeth as a deputy leader, and Jim Fannon enrolled in french lessons.

1. The party accepts ballots received in the mail until August 24, so you still have time, if you haven’t already sent yours in. (back)