Adam
Paraphrasing from OPPO: "The Greens should stop running as (centrist) German Greens and start running as (leftist) Nordic Greens. If they do that, there is a lot of room for growth and they could eat the NDP for lunch."
Yes! This!
Replacing Elizabeth May (who I mostly like) couldn't hurt. Although she is generally a good parliamentarian, she is kinda dull and lacking in charisma. Someone more dynamic could attract new voters (keep May as an important advisor to said person).
M. Grégoire
@ink_slinger If the beliefs of Canadian Greens align with those of Nordic Greens, then they should run with similar policies; same thing *mutatis mutandis* for German Greens. But there's a lot of competition for left-wing voters in Canadian federal politics at the moment, so I'm not sure that they'd gain votes by moving left.
As for Elizabeth May, hasn't she been weak on criticising the Liberals? Are there other potential leaders likely to be better?
Adam
@mpjgregoire Of course they should do what the membership wants. I guess what I'm really saying is that I'd vote for a leftier Green party, especially given how ineffective the federal NDP appears to have been since electing Singh.
Is there much compensation on the left, federally? It's mostly just the NDP and the Liberals (who aren't really leftist, but often do a better job looking the part than the NDP), same as usual, no?
Adam
@mpjgregoire You're right that May has been weak criticizing the Liberals. I suspect she has more in common with them than not, outside the environmental stuff, so I'm not surprised.
That said, I don't think there is another obvious choice for leader, but I'm not super familiar with the internal workings of the Green Party.
M. Grégoire
@ink_slinger I would say that the Liberals moved left in the last election, notably with regard to deficits, cannabis and electoral reform [0]. For 2019 they will promise a new social programme, pharmacare at the federal level. That leaves the Liberals and the NDP (and the Bloc in #Quebec) competing on the left. Is that where the Greens should hunt for votes also?
[0] I do not believe that a #CarbonTax is necessarily a left-wing policy.
Adam
@mpjgregoire I agree a carbon tax is not leftist. Running deficits isn't inherently leftist, either, and they failed to deliver on electoral reform. So, yeah, I think there is room on the left. The Liberals aren't a leftist party, despite saying the right things their actions don't really align, IMO. Whether or not that is where the Greens should go is ultimately up to the party, I suppose. I would personally like a left green party, but I don't know if it'd be a winner.
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