Green Party of Canada
What is the Green Party of Canada?
The Green Party of Canada (GPC) is the registered Canadian political party of the Green Movement. The purpose of the Green Party of Canada is to affect a ‘greening’ of our economy, society and environment through political activities - by electing officials and influencing government.
The GPC is made up of Electoral District Associations (EDA), which do the work of the Green Party on a local riding-by-riding basis. The Parkdale-High Park Federal Green Party Association is a federal association with a stable volunteer base that has run a number of exemplary electoral campaigns.
What is the history of the Green Party of Canada?
The Green Party of Canada was founded in 1983, born from a conference held at Carleton University in Ottawa. Under their first leader, Dr. Trevor Hancock, the party ran 52 candidates in the 1984 federal election. In 2004, the GPC became only the fourth political party in Canadian history to run a full slate of candidates - one in each of the 308 electoral districts!
What is the relationship between the Green Party of Canada and other Green Parties?
The Green Party of Canada is independent of other Green Parties around the world, and provincial Green Parties in Canada, yet remains philosophically aligned with them. The Green Party begins with the basic premise that all life on the planet is interconnected and that humans have a responsibility to protect and preserve the natural world. The Green Party of Canada, like its provincial counterparts in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, supports green economics, progressive social planning, and responsible and accountable governance.
How much support does the Green Party of Canada receive in an election?
On June 28, 2004, the Green Party of Canada made history when it became only the fourth federal political party ever to run candidates in all 308 ridings. Despite this feat, the Green Party was the only party running a full slate to be excluded from the televised leaders’ debate. When the ballots were counted, the Green Party secured 4.3 per cent of the popular vote, thereby surpassing the 2 per cent threshold required for party financing under new Elections Canada rules. The Green Party will therefore receive $1.75 each vote every year until the next election.
Green Party of Ontario
What is the Green Party of Ontario?
The Green Party of Ontario (GPO) is a registered political party in Ontario with the stated mission to “…to move the state of the natural world and of human society and its economy in Ontario toward the party’s goals, especially through electoral politics and government action.” The GPO is a confederation of Constituency Associations (CA), or ridings, within Ontario that includes the Parkdale-High Park Green Party CA.
What is the history of the Green Party of Ontario?
The Green Party of Ontario became an officially registered political party in 1983 after volunteers collected 10,000 nominating signatures. The Green Party of Ontario supports green economics, progressive social planning, and begins with the basic premise that all life on the planet is interconnected and that humans have a responsibility to protect and preserve the natural world.
What is the relationship between the Green Party of Ontario and other Green Parties?
The Green Party of Ontario is independent of other green parties in Canada and around the world, yet remains philosophically aligned with them.
How much support does the Green Party of Ontario receive in an election?
We have increased the number of candidates in the successive provincial elections: 9 candidates in 1985, 7 candidates in 1987, 40 candidates in 1990, 40 candidates in 1995, In the 1999 provincial election we fielded 58 candidates, and based upon votes cast (30,633 votes or 1.7% of the popular vote) became the fourth largest party in the province. In 2003, we fielded our first full slate, 102 out of 103 candidates, and received 2.8% of the vote. At present (2005) the GPO is at 9% in the polls. The next provincial election is fixed for October 4, 2007.
International
What is the Green Movement?
The Green movement encompasses the Green parties and the larger ecology movement, peace movement, conservation movement, environmental movement and general trend towards environmentalism of which they are a part. A mainstream term for a member of all of these movements is political ecologist, which is used especially in Europe and academic circles. (Source: Wikipedia)
The Global Greens is the international network of Green parties and political movements.
The purpose of the Global Greens Charter is to state the values and principles that we hold in common as Green parties and political movements. It is not intended to represent everything that every individual party or group believes in, but rather a set of core beliefs and ideals. It is a document that existing and newly forming parties can draw upon to decide whether they too are ‘Green’.
The Charter builds on earlier Greens statements including in Hands 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, the Millennium Declaration made at Oaxaca in 1999 and the Accord between the Green Parties of the Americas and the Ecologist Parties of Africa. (Source: Global Greens)
What is the history of the Green Movement and the international Green Parties?
The first green party in the world, called the Values Party, was started in the early 1970s in New Zealand. The first green party in the western hemisphere was formed in the Maritimes, in the mid to late 70’s, and was called the Small Party after E.F. Schumacher’s book “Small is Beautiful”. In Britain the green party was called the Ecology party, before the name “Green” became common. But it wasn’t till the West German Green Party, called die Groenen, crossed the vote threshold of 5% and entered the German legislature in the late 1970s, that the green political movement started in earnest, and since spread all over the world.
Presently there are over 100 Green Parties world-wide, and there are Green members elected in dozens of countries. At the moment the Green Party is participating in governing coalitions in Mexico, New Zealand, Italy, France, Germany, and Finland. (Source: History of the Green Party of Ontario)
Values
What are Green ‘values’?
Both the Green Party of Canada and the Green Party of Ontario make decisions that are firmly grounded in principles, providing consistency, permanence, vision and stability in a turbulent world. The Green Party shares these values with Green parties around the world.
The policies of the Global Greens are founded upon the principles of:
Ecological Wisdom:
We acknowledge that human beings are part of the natural world and we respect the specific values of all forms of life, including non-human species. We acknowledge the wisdom of the indigenous peoples of the world, as custodians of the land and its resources. We acknowledge that human society depends on the ecological resources of the planet, and must ensure the integrity of ecosystems and preserve biodiversity and the resilience of life supporting systems.
Social Justice:
We assert that the key to social justice is the equitable distribution of social and natural resources, both locally and globally, to meet basic human needs unconditionally, and to ensure that all citizens have full opportunities for personal and social development. We declare that there is no social justice without environmental justice, and no environmental justice without social justice.
Participatory Democracy:
We strive for a democracy in which all citizens have the right to express their views, and are able to directly participate in the environmental, economic, social and political decisions which affect their lives; so that power and responsibility are concentrated in local and regional communities, and devolved only where essential to higher tiers of governance.
Nonviolence:
We declare our commitment to nonviolence and strive for a culture of peace and cooperation between states, inside societies and between individuals, as the basis of global security. We believe that security should not rest mainly on military strength but on cooperation, sound economic and social development, environmental safety, and respect for human rights.
Sustainability:
We recognize the limited scope for the material expansion of human society within the biosphere, and the need to maintain biodiversity through sustainable use of renewable resources and responsible use of non-renewable resources. We believe that to achieve sustainability, and in order to provide for the needs of present and future generations within the finite resources of the earth, continuing growth in global consumption, population and material inequity must be halted and reversed. We recognize that sustainability will not be possible as long as poverty persists.
Respect for Diversity:
We honour cultural, linguistic, ethnic, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity within the context of individual responsibility toward all beings. We defend the right of all persons, without discrimination, to an environment supportive of their dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being We promote the building of respectful, positive and responsible relationships across lines of division in the spirit of a multi-cultural society.
The Green Party of Ontario has extended these core values to include:
Decentralization:
The people most affected by a problem must have the authority to solve it. Distant administrations cannot be responsive. Individuals, cities and municipalities need more freedom to shape their destinies.
Community-Based Economics:
Businesses must contribute to the communities and nations in which they operate. Our economy must build communities, rather than extract profits from them.
Feminism:
Co-operation and understanding must replace domination and control. Our feminism is not only about the full and equal participation of women and men in all spheres of activity, but about making room for sensitivity, beauty, empathy and spirituality in all aspects of life.
Personal and Global Responsibility:
We must learn to take responsibility for ourselves, our families, our communities and ultimately for our planet. As we learn to be responsible, we can give others the means do the same.
