There will be no Greens in Canada's 40th Parliament, but party Leader Elizabeth May says she will be up in the House of Commons visitors gallery watching MPs when they return to Ottawa.
She hopes the Greens can be a party of ideas between elections, urging MPs from other parties to act more aggressively on issues like climate change and reforming Canada's electoral system.
“I think a political party leader has to assume the responsibilities of leadership and that means being on the Hill, watching the dismal spectacle below,” Ms. May told reporters.
In addition, Ms. May said fundraising and promoting a new book are likely to keep her very busy over the coming months.
The Green Party ran a $4-million campaign and nearly half of that was borrowed money.
Ms. May said her goal is to get her party out of debt before Christmas so that Greens can start raising money for the next campaign, which she predicted will not be too far off.
In between fundraisers, she will also be promoting a book she co-authored called Global Warming for Dummies which will soon be released internationally.
She noted that the 32 per cent of the vote she secured in her second place finish in Central Nova is a new record for Greens, topping the 26 per cent support she received in a 2006 London by-election.
Ms. May said she now has a solid base of local volunteers in this Nova Scotia riding that can work on organizing for the next campaign.
“I can win in this riding. I will next time,” she said. “In the meantime, I will be prepared to win in a by-election.”
Looking back, Ms. May said she does not regret praising Liberal leader Stéphane Dion during the campaign and said questions should be asked about how he and his carbon tax proposal were covered by the media. Specifically, Ms. May made reference to CTV's decision to broadcast a tape of Mr. Dion asking several times to restart an interview with CTV Halifax because he did not understand the interviewer's question.
“He's been treated shabbily. I think replaying re-asked questions in a second language over the national media is despicable,” she said. “I think people need to look to their own behaviour and say ‘How much did media attempt to manipulate this election so that a very good person might not win?'”
Ms. May rejected suggestions that her campaign helped to elect more Conservative MPs. She said that if Canada allotted seats in proportion to the popular vote, as is common in many other countries, Greens would have won about 20 seats.
Ms. May said something must be done to address the fact that the current first-past-the-post system elects governments that, according to her, are out of sync with the will of most Canadians.
She proposed open-ended talks with Mr. Dion, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe to discuss ways they and the Greens could work together.
“Whether it's described as a left or a centre, or a centre-right, whatever kind of coalition we're talking about, it's simply dangerous to allow the first-past-the-post system to prevent Canadians from getting the government they want,” she said. “Something ought to be done.”
University of Toronto political scientist Nelson Wiseman said those parties are unlikely to want anything to do with Ms. May in light of the election results. Mr. Wiseman said it is clear Mr. Dion erred in boosting Ms. May's profile by not running a candidate against her and by supporting her inclusion in the leaders debates.
“They ended up eating the lunch of the Liberal party,” said Mr. Wiseman, noting the Liberals lost roughly the same amount of national support as was gained by the Greens. “It pointed to Dion's poor political instincts … Why are you fragmenting the opposition to the government?”
Mr. Wiseman said Ms. May ran a strong campaign and was the best performer in the leaders debates. But he also noted that Green parties in Europe have peaked as most mainstream parties now embrace environmental issues as well. He said the same circumstances may happen here.
“I can see this might be their high point,” said Mr. Wiseman.
