Last federal election, they had published a well-developed platform on their website. You only have o visit their wesite to see that they have a wide-ranging policy platform.
In some ways, the Green Party finds itself in a similar position as the Reform party in the beginning. In school we were taught about the historical roots of reform liberalism, and so at first I thought the Reform Party was likely a moderate-left leaning party, perhaps a kind of blue liberal party of sorts, owing to the word 'reform' in it, conjuring up the idea of 'reform liberalism'. As time went on and we'd here how it was a right-leaning party competing with the Progressive Conservative Party, and that it was probably even to the right of the conservatives, I started looking into it and lo and behold it really was quite a conservative party. For all we know, some moderate left voters looking for something slightly to the left of the Progressive Conservative Party likely voted for them the first time around if they hadn't done their homework, just as some conservatives likely criticized the reform Party initially before looking into it.
We find the same with the Green Party. It conjures ideas of Greenpeace, hippies, or the environment as a one-party issue in the mind of many who have not looked further into that party. As a result, just as some on the moderate left likely turned to the Reform party owing to its catchy name initially, so today we have some environmentalists joining the Green Party since they know so little about it. Just as those liberals who'd done their homework first did not fall into the trap of supporting the Reform Party simply owing to its name, so most hard-core environmentalists who've done their homework are not likely to join the Green Party. First off, it's environmental policies are criticized by many members of the NDP and Greenpeace for being too moderate. In fact I doubt you'll find many members if any of Greenpeace in the Green Party. They're more likely to be in the NDP.
Also, though the Green Party is a pacific party, it is by no means a pacifist party. It has a very cosmopolitan view of the world but still recognizes the validity of a just war, contrary to how some people might stereotype it.
Also (and strangely enough this falls into the whole Green philosophy), the Green Party is an economically conservative party. It had promised no overall tax increases last election, but only tax shifting instead. In fact in some areas it intended to promote deeper cuts than even Harper. In the all-candidates debate in English on the CBC, May had proposed income sharing for all income between a married couple, and Harper opposed it saying it would cause too much of a revenue loss for the government. Who's the conservative there? Now of course May retorted that that revenue loss would be compensated for via a gas tax. If we consider that a gas tax is more conservative than income tax since it makes road funding more user-pay for example, May actually came across as more conservative than Harper on the economic front on at least a few points. This is one reason I was quit disappointed in her for coming out and supporting the auto bailout last recession.
The Green Party is nothing like how people stereotype it. I can guarantee that it would not take long for a Greenpeace activist who'd join this party to realize he'd made a mistake. And strangely enough, on the economic front at least, the CPC would likely turn to the Green Party before any other major party in Canada to form a coalition, seeing that among the left-leaning parties in Canada, the Green Party is likely the most moderate of the pack, and as mentioned before, on some economic fronts at least, more conservative than even the CPC!
That said, I do oppose the Green Party on many fronts, but just pointing out that it's far from being a one-issue party and is indeed a complex party in its own right as far as parties go.
As mentioned above, the Green Party is officially even more economically conservative than the Conservative Party of Canada! Again, I wouldn't be so quick as to vote for a Green candidate next election though since there may be a few among their ranks I really wouldn't want to vote for. However, to dismiss a Green Party candidate just because of his party affiliation would be foolhardy. I wouldn't say go out and blindly vote for a Green Party candidate, but I would strongly advise you at least give him a chance. Last election, the Green Party candidate was the most lucid of the bunch in my riding. It does put out some quality candidates in some ridings.
If your concern is with getting real green representation in Parliament from a political party, why on earth would you want to vote for the Green Party when the NDP platform is in fact greener than that of the Green Party? Again, the Green Party is in fact a moderate environmentalist party. Sure it advertises itself as green, and indeed compared to most political parties in Canada it is green. But I can guarantee that if you ever faced a real race against the Greens and the NDP in an election, the NDP would exploit this to try to present itself as greener than the Greens.
By the way, a one-issue party might not always be a bad thing as it would allow for much diversity of opinion on all other issues.
Here is what i'd typed in an earlier post in this thread:
While I'm not saying that that alone made me cast a blank ballot, it certainly was a contributing factor, making it harder for me to vote for a party member, thus requiring him to stand out even more to be sure not only that he has earned my vote, but also my money for his party.
Looking at it that way, this policy might actually be hurting parties by encouraging more blank ballots being cast than would otherwise occur. Again, though this was not the deciding factor, I won't deny that I had thought of this during the election and that knowing that money was going to the parties irked me to no end. If I'm voting for a candidate, why the hell should his party benefit if I'm voting for him?
You're making big assumptions here. I almost voted for a Green Party candidate last election, yet it had nothing to do with his party affiliation. Who knows, next election I just might vote for him. Looking at it that way, was that 10% spread evenly across the country? Let's say it was concentrated in a few ridings, then that might say more about the Green Party candidates for those ridings than for the party itself.
I will agree that there does seem to be much ignorance of the Green Party overall, many beliefs about it being rooted in stereotypes.
So are you telling me that a prerequisite for becoming an MP is to have been an MP?
Do you post on Rabble.ca by any chance? I'd noticed there that any time someone disagrees, suddenly the other is a 'racist' or 'fascist', etc. etc. etc.
Why can't such people not just explain their views rationally rather than just labeling. The right does it too I've noticed, but you seem to just be a left-variety of the same thing.
Actually, seeing that provincial and federal mandates are totally different, there is no guarantee that a person who would not do well in provincial politics would not do well in federal politics. For example, if his forte is military, foreign affairs, fiscal, immigration or other such area, then provincial politics will not be for him.
And what would be wrong with a good candidate to make it to Parliament who happens to be a member of the Green Party? It would be a chance for him to prove himself, and if he does a good job, he's re-elected, gains further experience, etc.
Of course this does not give his party any more experience, but it does give him more experience. Same with any party.
As an aside, leaders' debates irritate me since they are flawed on so many levels. First off, they're not even running in the same riding. Secondly, the party leader's performance does not necessarily have any bearing on the quality of the local candidate for that party.
If you insist on having televised all-candidates' debates on local TV, I can certainly see the point in that. Otherwise, the national CBC should try to focus on things from a less partisan standpoint.
The Federal Liberal Party is totally separate from the BC Liberals. So how much similarity is there between the Canadian Greens and the British Greens? Again, in the end it's the quality of the candidates that matters most.
