It has always been our opinion that Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is far smarter than anyone else in the Green Party. And she has certainly carried all those folks on her back for far too long. It is time now for Elizabeth to take on a real challenge. Surely it is obvious to her that Justin Trudeau needs help. Elizabeth needs to choke it up and join the Liberal Party of Canada.
It would probably surprise her to learn that there are many environmentally concerned liberals in the Liberal Party. Her environmental concerns would not be set aside.
But if Justin Trudeau wants to have a gender balanced cabinet, he needs more intelligent women. Ms. May would be great in the cabinet. She could do a far better job in justice, foreign affairs or democratic institutions. Instead, she has been wasting this very fine summer asking the only intelligent questions on the special house committee on electoral reform.
We are well aware that there is a quiet campaign on to bring Ms. May into the New Democratic Party to fill that leadership vacuum. We are dismayed at the prospect. Talk about a fish out of water. While she would certainly bring new depth and intelligence to the NDP, what are they going to do for her? Nothing. The only elected NDP government is in Alberta where the Premier is promoting pipelines for bitumen in the face of all environmentalist objections. The NDP has been floundering both federally and provincially for quite some time now. It is a party in need of rebranding and has no idea what that brand should be.
If the party decides to dump the old-fashioned socialists and strike out on a new social democratic future, it has potential. The only problem is the party will spend years in the wilderness establishing its new credentials. A worthy ambition maybe but Ms. May deserves more in the here and now. She is no spring chicken you know.
And frankly, Ms. May is barking up the wrong tree in hopes of getting the Greens more MPs through introducing some form of proportional representation. It is not going to happen in Canada.
Ms. May is a liberal. There is no point in denying it any longer. At this point in her life, her government needs her service to make them better at the job they are trying to do. And she must admit that most of the Liberal Party program is very much in sync with Elizabeth May’s.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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