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THE GREEN THORN IN HARPER’S SIDE
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by
Sarah Veale
September 7 - 13, 2006 |
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There’s a new party boss in town when Parliament reconvenes on
September 26. While the Liberals are busy searching for the next
Pierre Trudeau, Elizabeth May, newly minted Leader of the Green
Party, will be taking her seat in the gallery—and taking shots at
the government.
Bolder than her predecessor, Jim Harris, May’s outspoken
take on the issues could be the poison arrow for Harper’s
Conservative agenda. Armed with political experience and activist
credentials, the former Sierra Club executive director is ready to
drop the gloves on everything from the environment to foreign
policy.
“I think we have nothing to lose with the party,” says May of
the Green’s unique position as outsiders. With no seats in
Parliament, they can, at this point, only impress voters. But don’t
expect much pandering. Politics may be the art of compromise,
but for the Greens, the agenda is pretty clear–cut: sustainability
on health care, education, economics and the environment. “I
think it will surprise people to see how much force and
momentum comes to a party that’s committed to relentless truth–
telling.”
And the truth will hurt for Harper, especially on issues like
trade and the environment, two sensitive issues for the
Conservatives and, coincidentally, May’s stock in trade. In
addition to taking on NAFTA with the Sierra Club (it doesn’t end
there, she’s now calling on Harper to renegotiate the agreement),
she also helped shape the Canadian Environmental Protection Act
as senior policy advisor to former minister of the environment,
Tom McMillan. May credits this experience as giving her the tools
to put procedural muscle behind her ideas. “It was a hugely
positive experience for me. I learned from the inside what drives
policy.”
But first up on the Green’s agenda will be boosting the
party’s visibility and May, described by her leadership opponents
as incredibly media savvy, knows just how to do that. While
Harper is freezing out the press corps, May is offering seven–
second sound bites to anyone looking to round out their
newscast. Her willingness to mouth–off on political hot–potatoes
is garnering a second look, both from the public and those inside
Ottawa.
“I have people coming to me all the time now, people within
government, people within senior levels of corporate Canada, who
see things going on and wish they had a voice,” says May of the
overwhelming response to her leadership victory. “I think we will
have some tremendous policy initiatives come to us where people
say ‘we need your help because no one’s talking about issue X.’”
According to May, the problem with politics stems from a
willingness for the parties to take a bland, middle path in order to
get votes. Fair enough, votes are, after all, the name of the game.
But this dumbing down of the issues, she counters, doesn’t do
enough for Canadians while turning them off the political process
entirely. “That to me is the slippery slope where parties make
mistakes. What could be worse in a democracy than people
thinking that the ends justify the means? That ‘when we get to
power we’ll tell the people what we really want to do.’ It’s
terrible.”
The Green Party will have plenty of opportunity to clarify
their position in the coming weeks. Whereas Harper has done
little to shake concerns of a ‘hidden agenda,’ expect the Greens
to have a clear position on everything form the Conservative’s
“Made in Canada” environmental plan (a.k.a. trading Kyoto
commitments for oil subsidies) to rising tuition rates and
healthcare.
For May, this is an opportunity to take a different approach
to politics as usual. While leading the Greens will look strangely
akin to her previous gigs, this time she’ll have a bigger soap box
from which to shout. Will this new visibility win them votes?
Possibly. Will it weaken the Conservatives who thus far have
gotten by on buzzwords and silence? Probably.
“I regard this as a great experiment in democracy, to see if it
can work,” observes May. “I think it will.” V
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