Earth Equity News

Canada's Green Party is a Prime-Time Draw. By Susan Bouretter, CSMonitor, October 3, 2008. "The mother, lawyer, environmental activist, and native of Connecticut is the first Green Party member to participate in national televised debates on equal footing with Canada's mainstream party leaders. The debates [were] in French on Wednesday and in English on Thursday night... Despite Green Party success in Europe, Canadians have yet to elect a single Green member to Parliament... Voter concern over high oil prices and climate change have thrust the environment into the center of Canadian politics. But political analysts attribute the party's rise in the polls to Ms. May's scrappy, off-the-cuff campaign style. She has a giftfor rhetorical thunder that seems to resonate with voters... At the heart of the May's Green Party policy platform is a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by taxing polluters while doling out tax breaks to companies and individuals that reduce their carbon output. She campaigned this past week in a cross-Canada tour by train instead of by plane, a lower carbon-footprint form of transportation. She has not driven a car, according to media reports, in 20 years. But May is also keen to stamp out the perception that the Green Party is a left-wing party full of treehuggers. Instead, she emphasizes a platform that is socially progressive with fiscally conservative ideas... In the 2006 Canadian federal election, the Green Party garnered 660,000 votes, or 4.5 percent of those cast. May has her sights set on a much bigger piece of the pie this time around. She said this week that she hopes to win at least 12 seats in the election. Canadians head to the polls October 14."