Why support a Green Party Candidate!

By Peter Jones

 

An Albertan who read our Blog “Make the Conservative Party pay attention to environment issues!” made a fair point in commenting on our appeal to voters in Calgary Center to support Chris Turner. The Comment was:

“While I respect your opinion to send the Conservatives a message, you are glossing over the fact that the Greens are in distant THIRD place in Calgary-Centre. From what I’ve read, the Liberal candidate is also very respected for his environmental work. It would then make more sense to vote Liberal as this is who people appear to be starting to rally around. I hate the thought of the Greens and Liberal splitting the vote and allow the Conservatives to win so hopefully we can find an agreed understanding here.”

After the dumping of Stephan Dion we are not prepared to recommend supporting any Liberal Party candidate.  This attitude could well change once we know where its-still-to-be chosen leader stands on the issue of climate change, and what measures it will adopt in its party platform to reduce GHG emissions.

As we see it, the takeaway message to the Harper Government from the by-election should be more than a rejection of a particular Conservative candidate. Even if she is defeated, the Conservative Party will still have a workable majority in the House of Commons.

The message must be a root-and-branch rejection of where the Conserviative party stands on climate change. The most dramatic way to deliver that message is through the election of an outstanding Green candidate.

We disagree with your assessment that Chris Turner is a distant third place.  Popular support for Chris Turner is increasing daily – it now stands at 25% according to the latest polls. His electoral momentum is continuing: a Toronto Star article referred to the Green Party campaign rally where 500 people showed up to listen to Turner.

So our endorsement stands, and we are hopeful that Chris Turner will be the next member for Calgary Centre.

 

1 thought on “Why support a Green Party Candidate!”

  1. I guess if you are viewing this from Toronto (where your Board appears to all be from), you may have this conclusion.
    But you still gloss over the fact that the Liberal candidate is neck-and-neck with the Conservatives. The Greens are still an average of 5 percentage points back.
    Second, a good chunk of this riding votes Liberal provincially. The Greens are non-existent here provincially.

    I agree that the Green candidate looks like a quality person who has great skills at social media. But the Liberal candidate is also a top quality person who currently has a better chance of winning. Both polls and LOCAL talk is saying this. You would understand this better Peter if you actually took a visit to Calgary and heard what people here are saying.

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