One day Elizabeth May was the principled leader of the Green Party of Canada and the next she is the Liberal Party's candidate in Central Nova.Usually people wait until they are in the House before crossing the floor. But at least we should be thankful that Elizabeth May has removed any doubt about her loyalties ahead of time.
But just the same, Green Party supporters are left feeling betrayed and wondering why they bothered.
Exasperated Green supporter Fraser Mowat has said “I know that our EDA has been working hard to get more members. Why join the Green Party when the Liberals will have a great leader that will do it all for us”?
May talks about "shared values" with the Liberals, but Green Party members don't see much to value in a party whose environmental policies May once said were "handed over to the oil patch in Alberta."
Even former Green leader Jim Harris has questioned the sense of working with a party with a worse environmental record than George Bush.
Erin Weir at Relentlessly Progressive Economics points out that by selling out to the Liberals, May has alligned herself with a party that favours further continental integration.
Even the Sun chain of papers get that Greens are being used by the Liberals. Columnist Lorrie Goldstein writes: “Let's ask so-called "progressive" voters, including May, what good comes, for them, from supporting Liberals? Where's your implemented Kyoto accord, folks? Where's your national day care program? Has child poverty been eliminated? When was the free trade deal re-negotiated? All Liberal promises, all broken, despite 12 years in power, most as a majority government.”
Dion and May are calling this cooperation, but it looks more like vote-fixing to most people. It is patently undemocratic for two people to decide who 140,000 people can or can’t vote for.
The Dion-May marriage makes sense from one stand point: they are two party leaders who should be worried about keeping their jobs.
2 comments:
Lizzie May is doing a slo motion 'belinda' which will be a two-step process.
Step 1 -- Declare that Dion is best as prime minister and stands with him to announce they have a pact to not oppose each other in their respective ridings. Outrage within the Green and NDP parties will mount.
Step 2 -- After the revised Clean Air Act is brought before the HoCs, May will declare it inadequate and unacceptable to her and Dion will agree. Then May will declare herself to run as a Liberal after "much anguished deliberation", but that is the only way to Stop Harper.
Right now May has no cause to join the Liberals, but after the CAA she can fall into the Liberal fold with impunity. Dion will boast that he is now 'a leader' because May is following him.
Interesting theory, though opposing the re-worked Clean Air Act out of Layton's all-party committee would require a 2nd flip-flop for both Dion and May on that particular process. Excessive, even for Liberals.
That said, opinion in the GPC is turning spectacularly sour on this deal with even candidates comign out against it. May may be left with no choice but to follow through on her convictions and sign a Liberal Party card.
Related: Strangely quiet since the announcement is David Chernushenko.
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