The Green Party

I went to my first Green Party event tonight. Elizabeth May was scheduled to speak but wasn't present because of the recent announcement that the Green's have their first MP.

Overall I had a positive impression, but I'm not sure they are ready for prime time. Adrienne Carr, deputy leader, spoke in place of May. There were some other area federal candidates who gave their pitches. These pitches didn't inspire confidence that these people were up to the job. The pitches were a bit facile.

What was positive was the claiming of the high ground - that ostensibly the policies and end results matter more than which person or party gets credit. This may largely be a function of them not having any seats, i.e. a luxury the outsider may claim. However, they did take shots, largely fairly, at the other parties. It would seem there are limits to their ability to transcend politics. For instance I would have liked to have floated to people the idea of, if not merger, coalitions with the NDP because a major fear of mine is that while the centre and left vote is split between the Liberals, NDP, and Greens the Conservative base will remain consolidated and thus we'll have hefty Conservative governments, but I sensed this would have been balked at.