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Monday, August 28, 2006

Can Green Party Compete in TO?

The new leader of Canada's Greens, Elizabeth May, is looking to reach out to Toronto-area voters, according to this Star story. An interesting idea. And apparently, the Greens have something (but not much) to start with:

Green candidates received roughly 2,000-2,500 votes in most GTA ridings, though in some, such as Toronto Centre, Toronto Danforth, Halton, Burlington and York Simcoe, it garnered between 3,000 and 4,000 votes.

Furthermore, there also seems potential for growth by poaching from within Tory ranks, Greens being the second choice of about a third of Conservative voters.

It would be nice to see a credible Left-based party in Canada that was not so tied to Union support. The last go-round, I began to feel a bit alienated by Mr. Layton constantly saying his policies were aimed at "working Canadians". So I don't go down into the mines everyday. Am I chopped liver? I began to see this expression as a piece of Unionist to Unionist code, maybe: "I promise you all free beer at your meetings."

Mind you, with the NDP/CAW divorce, the Dippers have a bit of latitude to shift on the ideological spectrum.

The key, the absolute key, in the next election will be Elizabeth May's getting on-stage for the leadership debates. For example, B.C.'s Liberal Party was an ongoing joke until Gorden Wilson cleaned up at the 1991 debates.

Thus far, May has looked quite impressive, although she has acknowledged that her French "needs work".

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