PEI heavyweight declines Green leadership bid

PEI Green Party leader Sharon Labchuk has decided not to enter the Green Party of Canada leadership contest.

Labchuk, who also currently serves as the GPC's environment critic, says that she's too involved in PEI issues to abandon her home province and move to Ottawa.

That's fantastic news for the Green movement in all of the Maritimes. Not only does Labchuk personify the PEI Greens, but so too is she involved in propping up the Greens in Newfoundland and New Brunswick (the latter province still does not have a registered provincial Green Party).

And if I can be incredibly shallow, Labchuk's "granola" image probably wouldn't help the federal Greens continue growing their support amongst "mainstream" Canadians.

But does anyone honestly think David Chernushenko doesn't have the contest sealed up already? Just my opinion, anyway...

Greening the Beaver - a recipe for procuring Green power

Matt Price, co-ordinator of Conservation Voters of BC, has published a paper entitled "Greening the Beaver - Power, Profit, and the Canadian Dream", which is currently serialized on The Tyee as a series of three articles.

In his first piece, "Want Power, Then Get It", Price argues that environmentalists are failing to utilize several approaches that could give them more power. In a nutshell, the first article says that environmentalists:

• need to lobby decision makers more - show why it's in their interest.
• CAN compete with industry groups in terms of lobbying - the latter have money, but the former have more people.
• need to engage with people more - get them excited and involved... don't treat them as financial contributors, but as people with ideas and enthusiasm.
• need to speak face-to-face with supporters more - a true, two-way dialogue, in which better ideas can be fed back (better than one-way talking).
• should go back to basics - clean air and water - get more people involved - and THEN get the masses supporting the more niche causes (i.e. "saving critters").
• need to better use information abou ttheir supporters better, to help channel their abilities better.
• need to organise to oppose/support politicians between elections, when there are less financial restrictions.
• need to fundraise more for organization/administration - not just directly for emotional causes.
• need to run for public office, not just help out from the sidelines via environmental foundations.

Price also has two other articles (or two other themes in his main paper), which argue that:

• The nature of profit making must be redefined. Tinkering with regulations is not enough - we need to change the market conditions in which money is made.


• As "Canadianism" evolves under Harperism, we must insert sustainability as a core value.

For those of you who can't wait to read the last piece on The Tyee, or want the whole paper in a single file, an introduction and all three articles can be found in Price's full paper in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format - found here.

Green Party of Canada leader to resign: media

Green Party of Canada leader Jim Harris is expected to announce his resignation later today, according to various media reports.

Harris has been at the helm of the party since 2002, and was instrumental in helping the Greens change their image from a single-issue fringe party, into that of a multi-faceted and pragmatic party that appealed to a much larger percentage of the electorate.

Under Harris' leadership, the party received much higher support in the 2004 and 2006 federal elections, culminating in a 4.49% popular voting share in the recent 2006 election.

Harris also controversially steered the party toward a more economically-prudent stance, creating an unique mix of policy from across the left-right political spectrum. Many felt this was a betrayal and not representative of the majority of the party membership, and more a reflection of Jim Harris and his closest supporters.

Favourites to replace Harris at the party and leadership convention on 24-27 August include David Chernushenko and former Sierra Club of Canada executive director Elizabeth May.