Who is Elizabeth May?
Meet Elizabeth May: the leader of the Green Party of Canada, and the party’s first ever member of parliament. And — if the party’s recent successes across the country are anything to go by, this October might be their best election yet.
In fact: not only did May’s 2011 victory mark the party’s first federally elected seat, it also marked the beginning of what some are calling “the Green Wave”. In 2013, 2014, and 2015, BC, New Brunswick, and PEI all held provincial elections. And in each province, the Green Parties won their very first respective seats. Then, one election later — in 2017, 2018, and 2019 — all three provincial parties not only grew their share of seats, but vastly expanded their role in government. In British Columbia, the Greens now hold the balance of power, and hold considerable sway over the NDP minority government. In New Brunswick, the Greens also grew their share of seats to three, and since then several former NDP candidates for the provincial election have jumped ship and joined the Green party for the federal election. And in Prince Edward Island, the Greens grew to a staggering 8 seats, which not only makes them the first Green Party in Canada to achieve official party status (which gives them access to far more resources) it also makes them Canada’s very first Green official opposition. And on top of that, Greens also won their first seat in Ontario’s 2018 Provincial Election (in Guelph), and in a 2019 by-election in Nanaimo they won their second federal victory.
Now, it’s important to take a step back here. Vancouver Island — where the Greens now have 2 federal seats and 3 provincial ones — is definitely going to be interesting to watch. But Provincial Elections and By-Elections are not the same as General Federal Elections, and we have to be careful about extrapolating too much from them. For one, provincial parties are never quite the same as their counterparts. (The BC and Alberta NDP just had a trade war.) For two, people vote against parties just as much as they vote for them. Was Nanaimo-Ladysmith a protest vote, or will people still vote Green when the reigns of government are legitimately on the line? We can never know for certain; but what we do know, is that the party’s success is going to hinge on whether or not people perceive Elizabeth May as a competent leader who can build on the legitimacy that her provincial counterparts have created — or if she’s destined to rule a fringe party forever.
So let’s take a look. Who is Elizabeth May?
May was actually born in Connecticut 65 years ago, which makes her the only federal leader who was born outside of Canada. It wasn’t until after high school that her family moved to Margaree Harbour on Cape Breton Island. Soon after, she began to make a name for herself in environmental politics. She quickly became a prominent figure in protests against aerial insecticide spraying, uranium mining, and nuclear energy — even going to court to protect those interests.
In 1980, she ran as one of 12 candidates for the pro-environment, anti-nuclear ‘small party’ in a Cape Breton riding, but received less than 1% of the vote. She went on, though, to get a law degree from Dalhousie in her late 20s, continuing to fight for environmental movements with her new credentials. In the late 80s, she was a Senior Policy Advisor to the Environment Minister of Canada. But she would soon resign as a protest to permits which illegally allowed for the construction of embankment dams without an environmental review. She then soon became the Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada, one of the most prestigious environmental groups in the world — a post she would hold until her 2006 bid for the leadership of the Green Party. During that period, she also served as the first Executive Director of Cultural Survival Canada — a chapter in an international organization whose goal is the preservation of indigenous cultures — and has served as a board member and commissioner on several environmental projects.
After becoming leader of the Green Party of Canada, she went on to contest the 2006 election in the Ontario riding of London North Centre. She placed second in her riding to the Liberals. In 2008, she again placed second in her riding — this time to the East in Central Nova. But, in 2011 — on the opposite side of the country — the third time was the charm (er, fourth, technically), and she won a strong 46% of the vote in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, and was re-elected in 2015 with 54% of the vote. And with that victory, she opened up the door to a new era for the Canadian Greens.
It’s not all sunflowers and rainbows, though. Despite May’s personal success, the success of the party’s provincial counterparts, and their recent, federal victory in the Nanaimo by-election, she has actually overseen a decline in the party’s national support since she led them to win a record 6.8% of the popular vote in 2008. She’s also been the subject of continual criticism on the merits of some of her Green policies. Especially her opposition to nuclear energy, which is an especially contentious and dividing topic in green energy. It might feel green to oppose nuclear, but it’s probably not. And a lot of the Green’s platform is like that. Especially when you start comparing it to the other parties on the same side of the climate debate — the NDP and Liberals — there’s not really a whole lot that sets them apart. All three parties have great commitments to the environment, and all have blindspots or are making compromises.
May is also quite prone to public goofs. Most crucially, she presented a petition to the House of Commons from some of her constituents who also happened to be 9/11 truthers. The petition called on the government to investigate and review the official narrative of the Twin Tower attack. In her defense, she says she disagrees with the petition, but felt obligated by parliamentary convention to present any and all petitions from the people she represents. But that’s convention. There’s no rule saying she had to. Would she have presented a petition to investigate flat earth theory too? Probably not.
And the same is true for the whole of her party. Remember when I said that several NDP members from New Brunswick were joining the Greens for this federal election? Well, originally that was an announcement for over a dozen people. But — it turns out — the Greens had jumped the gun there, and only two members are making the move. The Greens, just didn’t do their due diligence before making their announcement.
They also have trouble with party unity and control. On the one hand, this is kind of on purpose. The Green Party prides itself as a quasi grassroots movement — and you just can’t bully around the viewpoints of your members as much as the other parties if that’s your goal. But this has also caused them a lot of problems recently. One of their Quebec candidates was advocating for separatism. Another candidate was trying to re-open the abortion debate. And on both topics, May had to come out — after the fact — and denounce those plans, because — of course — the Greens have no benefit in touching such contentious topics. But their candidates did it anyway. And I think that speaks the difficulties that lay in the Green Party’s future; they’ve been a one man band for a long time, they haven’t really needed to develop a culture of unity (or maybe you’d call it tribalism). But if they hope to be successful in parliament, they’re going to have to. And quick.
Despite my criticisms of the Greens shortcomings, I do have one final piece of support for them — and I think it’s really important.The other parties might support green policies in theory, but they’ve been quick to compromise in the past. And if that’s what you’re looking for in 2019 — if you’re tired of governments that are never fully committed to the environment — then it might be time to vote Green. If you’d like to actually see their policies for yourself, I’ll be making a comparison of all the party’s platforms that I’ll link below.
