When Elizabeth May was elected leader of the Green Party of Canada a year ago, I was actually quite pleased. As a committed New Democrat, I’ve always thought that an ideal federal government (under an ideal electoral system) would be an NDP minority supported by a Green Party holding the balance of power. And, a stronger Green Party would spotlight the environment and other issues important to me, and encourage my own party to take those issues more seriously.
I’ve been disappointed since that time, however, by actions that have called into question both May’s personal politics and her political judgement.
Oddly enough, my loss of respect for May started when someone drew my attention to a highly laudatory blog post by one of her most prominent supporters (at that time) that included an audio clip of a statement that she had made on abortion. I had assumed that May would be pro-choice, so was amazed to hear her refer to abortion access as “a frivolous right to choose,” late last year. She went on to say that “nobody in their right mind is for abortions.”
As word of these comments spread, the response from feminists and their supporters was rapid and hostile. When May responded, she expressed bewilderment that anyone could be disappointed by her stance (which she went to great lengths to legitimize). She blamed the NDP for inspiring the online protest against it (ignoring the fact that the people expressing their concern were genuinely offended, not motivated by partisanship). And, in spite of the evidence, she insisted that she was unequivocally pro-choice.
The buzz from this incident had barely died down when questions started to arise about May’s strategy on the environment, her party’s core issue. In March, May told MPs working on amendments to the governmentâe(TM)s proposed Clean Air Act (Bill C-30) that they should “bring down the curtain on the C-30 sideshow and get to work on climate change strategies that will drive progress towards the Kyoto targets.”
A week later, after the process led to the full-scale rewriting of the bill supported by all three opposition parties, May cynically took credit for the new bill (presumably hoping that no one had noticed that she had called the process “dead on arrival” a week before).
Of course, May’s most prominent misstep was her decision to formally endorse Stéphane Dion for prime minister, in return for an agreement that the Liberals would not field a candidate against Peter MacKay in Central Nova (where, last time around, the Liberals finished third and the Green Party barely registered).
Leaving aside the question of how Elizabeth May could bring herself to endorse an environmental record as abysmal as that of Dion and the Liberals (the planet has much higher standards), this move is a major affront to democracy. It’s not about “put[ting] the planet first” or “putting principle and progress above petty partisanship,” as May claims—it’s a blatant manipulation of the electoral process in an attempt to fix the outcome. As Central Nova NDP candidate Louise Lorefice put it, “If you have a hockey tournament [and] one team withdraws because they want a weaker team to win, you lose your fans pretty fast—to say nothing of team morale.”
To make matters worse, May’s reaction to the NDP’s refusal to make a similar backroom deal was petty and vindictive. “Thereâe(TM)s something wrong with Jack Layton if he’d rather open up discussions with the Taliban than the Green Party,” mimicking a popular Conservative taunt (and ignoring her own support for a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan).
Considering that when she became leader, Elizabeth May promised to “set a tone of mutual respect, inclusiveness and love,” she is starting to come across as the very kind of old-style politician that she claims to hold in contempt.
I’ve come to this conclusion with a great deal of regret. I admire many of the Green Party activists I know, particularly at the local level. But Elizabeth May has transformed the Green Party into a virtual cult of personality—and she’s proving time and time again that there is little to be admired in that personality.
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