The Green Party of Canada (GPC) launched its 2004 election platform on May 20. The CBC took the event seriously. Newsworld was live, and party leader Jim Harris got an extended interview with Don Newman. Otherwise, it was covered as a daily news event. Canadian Press had a wire story, and newscasts ran an item, or not.

The Greens, however, are a big part of what election 2004 is about. Jim Harris is running against Jack Layton, signaling the GPC intention to replace the NDP as the party of innovation. This is reminiscent of the early Preston Manning, the Reform leader who ran against Tory leader Joe Clark, so as to claim he, not Joe, was the voice of the West .

The GPC are at five per cent nationally, and 13 per cent in B.C. Jim Harris says his party appeals to people who would otherwise not get out to vote. Perhaps. But some NDP candidates are likely to be counting up the Green share of the popular vote as they lick their wounds on election night. A tight three-way race normally is necessary for the NDP; but a strong GPC vote could spoil that this time around in urban ridings in Ontario, and especially in B.C.

Leader Harris contrasts his party with the right who want to give more room to capital to create a bigger pie, and the left who want more clout for labour to create a bigger pie. The Greens, he says, think we need a new pie: the one we have has gone bad.

The Green Party‘s platform offers “Ten Key Values” as itsfoundation. It identifies its roots in the civil rights, feminist and peace movements. The values are enticing, the vision is soothing, but something important is missing: analysis.

The social movements of the 1960s and 1970s emerged out of the New Left which was anti-capitalist. Its analysis identified the alliance between the state and big business to exploit the rest of society. American-based Labour was compliant, and universities were enthusiastic in supporting this power structure, and its ruling elite. There is not a hint of this in the GPC.

The way in which we produce goods and services, and exploit resources is at the heart of the ecological drama. How can this be changed if its capitalist roots are ignored? What the GPC platform calls for is to reduce taxes on income, and increase taxes on resource use, while reducing the debt. It wants less government.

The upshot is the Greens expect market incentives to stop pollution. But if resource taxes go up, while personal income taxes go down, this means that increased resource prices can be paid for by the wealthy, as the tax cut puts more money in their pocket. The poor pay resource taxes, but with low income, pay less personal income tax. So, it is low-income people who are supposed to reduce pollution, by spending less on resources.

Hello. Who exactly is burning up the planet?

In the greatest work yet written on the subject, Politics, Aristotle pointed out that the struggle between the rich and the poor was what politics was about. The Greens can try, if they wish, to ignore Aristotle, but it makes more sense to take account of how wealth influences the balance of political forces. For sure, we need more than one day of coverage and the Green Party 2004 election platform to get to the bottom of that question.

Duncan Cameron

Duncan Cameron

Born in Victoria B.C. in 1944, Duncan now lives in Vancouver. Following graduation from the University of Alberta he joined the Department of Finance (Ottawa) in 1966 and was financial advisor to the...