[hurley_108]

Link.

I'm really disappointed with the NDP over this. The NDP and the Green party share the same environmental goals. The NDP and the Green party are both massively and unfairly punished by our archaic, warped electoral system. The NDP and the Green party are natural allies, so why is the NDP shoving the Greens down like this? Probably they're afraid the Green party is taking votes that might otherwise go to them, but this is democracy. The Green party gathers a serious proportion of the vote, they demand serious attention and it's a undemocratic snub to hundreds of thousands of Canadians that the Green party is not included in the leader's debate.

I'm very disappointed with my party.

[Arctic_Menace]

Christ.

Can't we give the Green Party a freakin' break?!

[Rev_Blair]

The NDP generally supported May being in the debate until she swung that backroom deal with Dion...a deal she also tried to swing with Layton. She wants to be a Liberal and the Liberals only get one voice in the debates. Right now May is playing the kind of back room politics she learned when she worked for the Mulroney government.

The environment isn't the only issue either. The Greens are miles from the Liberals on most other issues, so Liberal voters in the Nova riding are being deprived of one of their choices.

The Greens are also miles away from the NDP on a lot of issues, so May's continued suggestion that the NDP shouldn't run a candidate against her is ridiculous. It would further deprive the voters of an important choice.

By the way, the NDP finished second in that riding in the last election, about 3,000 votes back of MacKay. The combined vote of the Liberals (about 10,000) and the Greens (167) is not enough to unseat MacKay (17,000). Perhaps enough of the former Liberal voters that May and Dion have disenfranchised will go to NDP and Pete will lose his seat, but there aren't enough Liberal/Green votes there to do better than third place.

I'd suggest that if the Greens want to be in the debates, they should get a different leader...one that stands up for their party instead of joining the Liberals.

[sgauvreau]

I can't support May because she is a christian fundamentalist hiding behind her chosen parties views. Aside from her views on the environment she is a better fit in the conservative party than the green party. Even her environmental views are driven her religious orientation. She is personally against abortion and gay marriage. I can't stand her.

EDIT: just because i can't stand her doesn't mean I don't think her party shouldn't be represented in debates. I just wish it wasn't her representing them.

[Rev_Blair]

It's kind of funny that she never talked much about those religious views when she worked for Mulroney and rarely mentioned them during her time at the Sierra Club. Now she's leading a party and mixing religion and politics like a Christian Heritage member.

I suspect the Greens will get rid of her after this election.

[sgauvreau]

The Green Party needs to re-vamp their website too. They're trying to get people to realise that they're not just a party who is about the environment, but that they have views on everything just like the other parties yet their website screams "environment"

Really with the way the word "green" is tossed around these days they should consider a name change.

[sgauvreau]

Rev_Blair wrote:

It's kind of funny that she never talked much about those religious views when she worked for Mulroney and rarely mentioned them during her time at the Sierra Club. Now she's leading a party and mixing religion and politics like a Christian Heritage member.

I suspect the Greens will get rid of her after this election.

I guess it's kind of a good idea. Kowtow to the right wing kooks with your "personal beliefs" while heading a party on the left. I hope most lefties realise that promises are broken once someone is in power though. I have no doubt that if May were to somehow ever become PM that her fundamentalist beliefs would direct her decisions despite promising the opposite during a campaign.

[Rev_Blair]

The Greens haven't been a party of the left for a long time either. They are, for all intents and purposes, conservatives with composters.

[damngrumpy]

May is not a politician she is a hypocrite. She is a born again christian who would sell her soul to the devil, for a sniff of the mantle of power. I really don't don't like the Green Party anyway it is really a conservative movement, that without a position on the political spectrom, so they saddled up to ride with the Liberals. No once she made her bed in the liberal camp, by way of alliance, she does not deserve an independant spot on the stage.
I also believe if we ever gave these people power, we would have a scene uglier than the Spanish Inquestion. They are little dictators who would shove their program down our throats.

[Streaker]

It's no coincidence that the Greens are viewed somewhat favourably by the Liberals (the deal with Dion in Nova Scotia) and Conservatives (judging from the number of Cons on this board who have expressed positive views of them, not to mention Con notables like Preston Manning).

I still don't know what to make of the party, but am pretty sure that it doesn't serve any constructive purpose. It certainly does pose a threat to the NDP, however.

Their sitting out the next debate won't bother me at all.

[damngrumpy]

The last thing I ever want to see is the Green Party get so much as one seat in parliament or any provincial legislature. They are little more than would be dictators and a bunch of snakes in the grass