What is the difference between the Green Party of Ontario and the Green Party of Canada?
Green Parties around the world, while independent of each other, share common values as expressed in the Charter of the Global Greens adopted in Canberra, Australia, in 2001. The Green Party of Ontario (GPO) is a provincial party that's fielding a full slate of 107 candidates across Ontario. The GPO deals with provincial issues (Health, Education, Municipal Affairs and Housing, Agriculture, Attorney General and Correctional Services, Culture, Citizenship, Labour, Economic Development, Transportation, etc.).
The Green Party of Canada (GPC) is the federal party. It fields candidates across the country in federal elections and deals with federal issues (Defence, Fisheries, Heritage, Natural Resources, Employment, Immigration, Aboriginal Peoples, Banks and Financial Institutions, CRTC, International Trade, Environment, Food and Agriculture, etc.). The GPC organizes local Electoral District Associations (EDAs), while the GPO organizes local Constituency Associations (CAs). People sometimes confuse the two because most of Ontario's provincial and federal ridings share the same boundaries.
The GPO Leader is Mike Schreiner. The GPC Leader is Elizabeth May.
Elected Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) work in Toronto at Queen's Park. Elected federal Members of Parliament (MPs) work in Ottawa on Parliament Hill. Both MPPs and MPs have local constituency offices in the ridings they represent.
I've heard that Greens are a one-issue party. What other issues besides the environment does the party address?
Although it started out as an environmental party, the Green Party of Ontario has developed policies and solutions for a wide range of issues facing Ontario. We believe in proportional representation so that all votes count; greater power and funds to the municipalities so that local decisions can be made by the people who live there; greater economic development of our rural areas; reduced taxes for homeowners and businesses by implementing a green tax shift off of productive enterprises and onto inefficient and polluting industries; early childhood education to ensure all our children achieve their potential; reduced university tuition; improved health and health care. All of these policies are based on our key values and our belief that all political and economic decisions should be based on long-term sustainability.
I like your policies, but how do I know my vote for the Green Party will count?
A Green vote will count for two reasons: You might make history by electing the first provincial Green MPP or MP, and you'll force the other parties to consider Green policies and maybe even copy them!
Tell me about the "Green Movement" and what it actually means.
The modern green movement started in Canada and around the world in the 1960s when the counter-culture movement launched the first mass rejection of consumer culture. The first green party in the world, the Values Party, was started in the early 1970s in New Zealand. When the West German Green Party, die Gruenen, crossed the five percent vote threshold and entered the German legislature in the late 1970s, the green political movement started in earnest. All Green parties share some common values and tend to support green economics, progressive social planning and responsible and accountable governance.
Are there other Green parties in the world?
There are now more than 100 green parties worldwide, and Green members of parliament have been elected in many countries including Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Italy, France, Germany and Finland. In the USA, the Green Party is represented at the municipal and state levels. In Canada, the Green Party is in every province and at the federal level.
Can anyone become a Green Party of Ontario member or candidate?
Absolutely! Like all other parties, we wish to attract good members and candidates who espouse our values and want to work hard for their community and for the province. To be a candidate, volunteer or simply find out more about the Green Party, contact your local Constituency or Electoral District Association .
Why should we change our voting system to proportional representation? It doesn't work in Italy!
Poor Italy. While Italy and its short-lived governments are often brought up in the debate over proportional representation, almost all the countries in Western Europe use some form of proportional representation, and almost all have no more frequent elections than Canada. Proportional representation has produced stable, democratic governments for many years. As well, they consistently show a higher level of voter turnout because people feel that their vote counts.
Representative democracy is a simple concept. Citizens elect their representatives. The majority wins the right to make decisions. But history shows that Canada doesn't really have a representative democracy. In the 2006 federal election, more than 650,000 Green Party voters across the country elected no one. Meanwhile, fewer than a half-million Liberal voters in Atlantic Canada alone elected 20 MPs. In the prairie provinces, Conservatives won three times as many votes as the Liberals, but were given nearly 10 times as many seats. But more than 400,000 Conservative voters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver couldn't elect a single MP. The NDP attracted a million more votes than the Bloc, but the voting system gave the Bloc 51 seats and the NDP 29.
What about majority rule? Canadians are usually ruled by majority governments that the majority voted against. In some provincial elections, parties coming in second in the popular vote have won majority control of the legislature. In other cases, the opposition is sometimes reduced to a seat or two (and in one case, none at all) despite representing 40 percent of the electorate.
Parry Sound-Muskoka Riding
Green Party of Ontario homepage - Green Party of Canada homepage
Matt Richter: vote.greenparty@hotmail.com - Glen Hodgson: glen.hodgson@greenparty.ca
